Chance Encounters
by Eek's Bubble
Summary: What if Arizona was already an amputee before she met Callie?
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first fanfiction - please be kind! Also, if you can let me know whether it's worth me continuing or not, I'd appreciate the feedback. **

It had been an exhausting night. Callie had been paged to the hospital at two in the morning after a car crash that had left a drunk driver dead on the scene and the entire family he had crashed into fighting for their lives. Three back-to-back surgeries later, she flopped down on one of the couches in the attending's lounge.

"Torres, you look wiped out, when are you off?" came the voice of her best friend Mark Sloan, Callie looked up to see him leaning against the doorway with a cup of coffee and brown paper bag in his hand.

Callie just grunted in his direction, too tired to form coherent sentences right now. Mark walked over the couch where Callie was sprawled out and placed the coffee and paper bag on the table, "I heard about the RTA and figured you could use a pick me up". The aroma of the coffee pulled Callie out of her reverie and she sat up, thanked Mark, took a sip and sighed in pleasure as the hot liquid hit the spot. "So when are you off?" Mark repeated.

"I'm not even officially on yet" Callie replied. "I got paged in last night and I have a sixteen hour shift starting in", she checked her watch and groaned, "three hours". Callie peeked into the paper bag to find a glazed doughnut which she promptly took a large bite out of, "okay this tastes amazing and that coffee is definitely not from the cafeteria, where did you get these from?" she asked Mark.

"There's a new coffee shop that's just opened up around the corner, it's only been open a few days but it's a great place" Mark replied.

Callie stretched and stifled yet another yawn, "right well I'm going to grab some sleep before my shift starts" and with that she dragged herself off the couch and into the nearest on-call room.

* * *

Callie dosed in and out of sleep for two hours until she finally gave up trying, she was still exhausted but she just didn't sleep well any more with too many unhappy thoughts running through her head. Instead she decided that she would definitely need another coffee and some food before her shift started in an hour and the cafeteria just wouldn't cut it, what was the name of that place Mark had mentioned? As Callie came out of the on-call room she noticed that Mark was on the surgical board so she made her way over to OR Two.

"Torres! Here to see God at work?!" Mark boomed from behind his surgical mask.

"I don't think a boob job counts as God's work" Callie quipped, "I just wanted to know the name of that place you got my coffee from this morning?".

"It's called The Press and it's on the corner of Maddison, it was packed when I was their this morning though – hey listen, do you want to get a drink at Joe's tomorrow night? We can go cruising for some ladies!", Mark asked.

"Maybe another time" Callie mumbled as she turned to leave.

"Callie wait!", Mark called out. "Listen, we don't have to go cruising for anything, I know you're not ready for that and I know things have been tough lately but I miss you, I miss my best friend Torres and this existence you're leading lately just isn't healthy and it's just not you" Mark said looking at his friend with concern.

Callie scrunched her eyes closed and sighed, not ready for this conversation at all, "I appreciate your concern but I'm just not... I just can't right now okay?" and with that Callie turned on her heels and marched out of the OR.

* * *

The door jingled as Callie entered The Press, not that anyone could hear it, Mark had been right, this place was very busy but Callie liked the place instantly, it had a warm, welcoming feeling no matter how much hustle appeared to be going on. Just as Callie had reached the front of the line the lady behind the counter said "are you wanting to eat in? Because we don't have any free tables at the minute I'm afraid, you're welcome to wait though?".

Callie looked at her watch and just as she was coming to the conclusion that she would have to settle for the hospital cafeteria she heard a soft voice call out "you're welcome to sit here if you like? I'm here alone and there is plenty of room".

Callie looked around for the direction of the voice to find a stunning blonde woman with the most striking blue eyes that Callie had ever seen looking straight at her. After a few seconds Callie realised that she had been staring,_ words Callie, make words! s_he thought to herself. The blonde woman's expression soon went from polite to to quizzical as Callie remained mute in her presence, she soon managed to engage her brain and walk over to the booth in the corner where the blonde was sat. "Uh, thanks. I really didn't fancy having to subject myself to the cafeteria food where I work", Callie managed to spit out, her mouth just didn't seem to be working properly. The blonde just smiled politely at Callie before returning to her stack of pancakes and crossword that she appeared to be immersed in.

It had been a long time since Callie had felt was she was feeling as she sat across the table from the blonde. This woman was gorgeous, there was no other word for it, in fact, there were lots of other words to describe the beauty of this woman and they were all currently running through Callie's head while she stole surreptitious glances at the blonde as often as she could get away with. Or at least she thought she was getting away with it, "do I have food stuck in my teeth or something?", the blonde asked without looking up from her crossword.

"Huh?" was all Callie could eek out, _smooth Torres, real smooth._

"Well you keeping looking at me and I was just wondering why?".

Callie could feel a furious blush come across her cheeks as she was busted from her silent perving on the woman in front of her. "I uh, I wasn't, I mean" she stammered trying to latch on to some excuse, "I was looking at that picture behind you, yeah, it's lovely".

The blonde shifted in her seat to look at the picture behind her head, it was a picture of a coffee cup, just a coffee cup, the blonde simply raised an eyebrow and said "okay then". They continued to stare at each other, all the while Callie was wondering what the blonde was thinking. They were soon interrupted when the waitress brought Callie her food and by the time she had left, the blonde had returned to her crossword.

Callie was thinking that she should just eat her food and leave before she embarrasses herself again in front of the beauty that sat before her, for all Callie new this woman was probably straight but she just couldn't bring herself to leave. There was something about this woman that she couldn't describe, like the fog she had been lost in for so long was lifted. So instead she sucked in a breath and stated, "I think that we got off to the wrong start, Hi my name is Callie, it's very nice to meet you" and offered her hand out.

The blonde looked at the offered hand for a moment but didn't take the greeting, instead she said "I didn't realise that we were starting anything" she stated, at the look of mortification on Callie's face the blonde let out a tinkling laugh with dimples that made Callie fall just a little bit more under this woman's spell. "Relax Callie, I'm teasing, it's very nice to meet you too. Are you always this articulate in social situations?".

As the blonde took the offered hand, Callie immediately felt a jolt that caused her heart to race, something she hadn't felt in a long time and certainly never after such a short space of time in the presence of another person. Callie grinned at the woman and said "I promise I am not usually this inept at making conversation". Callie paused as she made her decision, "listen, can I buy you another cup of coffee?", she held her breath as the blonde looked at her for a moment, only releasing her breath when the woman flashed her a dazzling smile and opened her mouth to say something. Just at that moment Callie pager started bleeping, "Dammit" Callie muttered to herself as she saw that it was a 911, "I'm sorry but I'm a doctor and I'm being paged back to the hospital, I know this is a little forward but maybe I could buy you that coffee another...", Callie's voice trailed off as she caught the look of anguish on the other woman's face.

"Your a doctor?" the blonde whispered.

"Uh yeah I am" Callie responded feeling thoroughly confused at the woman's new demeanour. She cursed as her pager went off again, "so about that coffee"?, Callie asked.

"No thank you" the blonde replied before beginning to pack up her things.

Callie felt herself deflate, she could have sworn that blonde was going to say yes before they had been disturbed by her pager, "Oh okay then".

As Callie's pager blared for the third time the blonde looked even more tense "I think you should get that" she snapped at Callie.

"Yeah" Callie said, "Thanks for letting me share the table" and with that she walked out of the coffee shop.

The blonde packed up her things and made to stand up, reaching out for the cane that had been hidden from view behind the booth she was sat in. She used the cane to haul herself up, all the while putting most of her weight on her right leg before balancing out on the prosthetic where her left leg had been only a few months before. She looked up when she heard the tinkle of the door to the shop only to see the miraculously beautiful woman she had spend that last hour with walking back towards her.

"Can you at least tell me your name?", the Latina asked, too immersed in the blondes shockingly blue eyes to notice the cane that had fallen to the floor. Callie sighed as the blonde remained silent with only an appraising look on her as though she were judging her, "okay then" Callie said before turning and leaving once more.

The blonde stared at the doorway that the raven haired beauty had just exited from and whispered, "Arizona. My name is Arizona".


	2. Chapter 2

**So I just wanted to say a big thank you for those of you who have read or reviewed the first chapter. Hope you like this next installment!**

"Want to hear something hilarious? I got asked out on a date a couple of days ago, wait, does it count as a date if it was just an offer of a cup of coffee?" Arizona asked, more to herself than the person sat across from her.

"Arizona that's great! And of course it counts, who with and when? I want details!" Teddy squealed, she was delighted that her best friend was going on a date, this was much more like the old Arizona, the person she was when she still had all four limbs.

"She was gorgeous Teddy, like seriously beautiful, her eyes..." Arizona tailed of with a dreamy look on her face before remembering the sour turn of events that had caused her to turn Callie down. "Anyway, I said no", Arizona continued to look more and more sombre by the second "I was sat down when she asked me, so she didn't see that I... she didn't see my... well you know. She would never have asked if she had known" Arizona finished in a matter of fact tone, determinedly staring into her coffee cup so she didn't have to look up into the sympathetic face of her friend. That was one of the worst things about this whole situation, the looks people gave her, like she wasn't herself anymore, just a thing to be pitied whilst being secretly thankful that you didn't have that life.

"Okay lets get a few things straight" Teddy began, looking at Arizona with trepidation before spilling out, "First of all, I DO NOT find the idea of someone finding the prospect of dating my best friend hilarious at all, you are beautiful, funny, smart and so many other things. Secondly, you have no way of knowing if this woman or any other would turn you down because of your leg unless you actually give them a chance to make that decision for themselves. Finally, if she did decide not to take you on a date because of it, then she's not worth dating in the first place then is she?".

Arizona had to blink a few times to process this, Teddy had said this all very fast and who could blame her, to say Arizona was sensitive about her leg (or lack of) was a definite understatement. Teddy had been on the end of a few verbal whippings over the course of the last few months but she had stuck by her through it all, and Arizona loved her for it.

"Thank you" was all Arizona could choke out for fear of crying, "that's not the only reason I said no anyway, she's a doctor and I... I just can't be around that right now".

Teddy just gave her a look of confusion and said "Well you're around me and I'm a doctor, hell Arizona your around yourself and your a..."

"NO! No I'm not! Not anymore...", Arizona interrupted, no longer able to stop the tears from spilling over, "I'm just going to go back home", when Teddy looked as though she was going to try to stop her she just said "please Teddy, can we talk about this another time?".

"Of course Arizona, we're still on for tomorrow night right? Dirty Dancing and Beaches? I know how you feel about a young Barbara Hershey" Teddy grinned, trying desperately to lighten the mood.

"Sure thing, I'll see you tomorrow, I have a PT appointment at the hospital tomorrow at 5pm, do you want me to meet you afterwards?" Arizona asked.

"That's great, I should be finished by then so I'll meet you in the lobby" Teddy said to the retreating figure of her friend, wondering if she would ever be the person she once was.

"Oh and Teddy? Please don't make me come all the way up to the surgical wing just because you lost track of time while drooling over Owen again. It's just not cool making an amputee come chasing after you" Arizona called out with a wink and a grin before departing the coffee shop.

_Yep, _Teddy thought to herself with a smile, _she's still in there somewhere. _

* * *

Arizona looked in the mirror that was in the changing room of the PT department of SGMW hospital, staring at herself whilst trying to control her breathing. Just being in a hospital put her nerves on edge but she was determined to see this through, so many things over the past few months had been out of her control but this was not one of those things. She desperately wanted some sort of semblance of her old life and whilst her career or dating were unimaginable to her right now, getting rid of that cane and learning how to live her life with a prosthetic was something she was determined to work on. Nothing else can get in the way of that. As Arizona closed her eyes she was flashed with the image of those beautiful brown eyes that had been so full of expression but Arizona pushed the image away as she made her was out of the changing room and across to her physical therapist. Maybe once she was physically better she might have the confidence to start something with someone, but not right now.

"Hey, how was PT?" Teddy asked as she spotted Arizona sat in the lobby waiting for her.

"It was fine" Arizona replied, this was the same answer she gave Teddy every time she asked but Teddy would keep asking anyway and offering to go with her but Arizona wouldn't have any of it.

"Are you ready to go?" Teddy asked.

"Yep", Arizona reaching down to pick up her bag only to find it wasn't there, "shoot I must of left my bag in PT, wait for me?".

Teddy just nodded, knowing it would be fruitless to offer to go and get the bag for her.

"Altman! Torres and I are headed to Joe's, finally convinced her to come for a drink. Want to come with?" Mark asked as he approached Teddy with Callie trailing behind, not looking particularly enthused at the prospect of a night at Joe's.

"Not tonight Sloan, I've got plans with a friend, I'm just waiting for her now actually" Teddy responded.

"Your friend can come too. Right Cal?".

"Yeah of course you and your friend should come Teddy, only to save me from being at the bar alone once Mark hits on the first girl in sight!" Callie replied. She didn't really know too much about the cardio surgeon but she seemed nice.

"Thanks but I really can't, next time for sure though" she responded and with that Callie and Mark made their way out of the hospital and across to Joe's.

"Ready?" Arizona asked as she made her way across to Teddy a minute later.

"Lets go", Teddy replied.

As they made slow progress across the hospital car park (Arizona refused a wheelchair and Teddy knew better than to push it), Teddy asked "so tell me about this girl you met, you said she was a doctor, does she work at the hospital? What's her name? I might know her".

"She did say she had to get back to the hospital but she didn't say which one, I guess it must be this one with Seattle Presbyterian being all the way across town, that would be a long commute for a cup of coffee" Arizona replied suddenly looking around as though expecting Callie to jump out at any second.

"So her name?" Teddy pushed.

"Her name is Callie, I didn't get her last name but its a pretty unusual first name don't you think?... Teddy?" Arizona stopped and turned to find Teddy had stopped in her tracks.

"Wait. Are you telling me the woman who asked you on a date is Callie Torres?".


	3. Chapter 3

**So it's been a long day and I'm tired but I wanted to get this out. Apologies for any errors, they are all my own.**

**Thanks again to all you wonderful people who have read and reviewed. Hope you like chapter three!**

"Arizona this is ridiculous!" Teddy exclaimed while shifting her weight uncomfortably, "not to mention slightly creepy, why don't we just go in and have a drink with them?!" she asked again shifting to keep her balance.

"Teddy will you keep still! I can't see anything whilst you are jostling around... I'm not that heavy!" Arizona chastised.

All Teddy could manage was an indignant huff as she carried the weight of her best friend on her shoulders, all so she could perve on her crush through a window at the back of Joe's.

"Listen Arizona, as completely normal as all of this is, the not so fragrant smell of the dumpster is really not doing it for me and it looks like we're staking out the place, so we can either go back to your place and have our movie night or we can go in and have a drink – what's it going to be?".

"Whose that guy she's with?" was Arizona's only response.

"Arizona focus! Or I swear to god, amputee or no amputee I will drop you right here right now".

"Okay fine, let me down and we'll just go in. I mean unless he's her boyfriend and she was just being friendly, maybe I completely misunderstood the situation, oh my god I'm become one of those sad depressing women who..."

Teddy cut off her friend's ramblings, "Arizona shut up, Callie is gay, Mark is her best friend".

Teddy just smiled as a huge grin spread out across her friends face, "you know for someone who isn't ready for a relationship you are looking awfully happy right now". Teddy mentally chastised herself as she watch the smile slide off Arizona's face but before she could say anything, Arizona gave a sad smile and said,

"I'm still not Teds, but lets go and have a drink anyway, I haven't been to a bar since before the crash". Arizona felt apprehensive about going into Joe's and being around all those people, what if some drunk jostled her and she fell? She just couldn't handle any more pity. Worst of all she knew she wouldn't even be considering this if it wasn't for the fact that she knew Callie was in there, and that fact scared her more than anything.

As they approached the entrance e Arizona stopped and turned to Teddy, "lets not sit with them, maybe I'll go over later" she lied, knowing full well that she wouldn't. With that, they entered the bar and took a seat at a free table in the corner. Arizona's eyes immediately looked for Callie who she found was getting served at the bar, she had her back to her but Arizona didn't need see her face to know how stunning she looked. She was wearing black jeans, a red top and a leather jacket with her hair rolling down her back in loose waves, all of this causing Arizona to become much more aware of the beating in her own chest and the nerves in her stomach. At least she didn't feel under dressed, she always made an effort to look good after her PT sessions which usually left her feeling exhausted and frustrated. So tonight she was wearing dark blue jeans with black boots and a cobalt blue strappy top to hide how she felt on the inside.

As Arizona watched Callie return to her table she wasn't sure if she wanted Callie to turn and notice her or not but she still couldn't take her eyes off of her, only tearing them away when Teddy came over with their drinks. When she looked over again she noticed another woman had made her way over to Callie's table and they were chatting amiably.

"Relax, that's Cristina, they are room-mates and they are definitely not together, she's with Owen" Teddy added with a bitter afterthought.

* * *

"Altman you made it!" Mark boomed as he noticed Teddy and made his way over to her "and not alone I see. Mark Sloan pleasure to meet you" while offering out his hand to greet Arizona. As Arizona went return the hand shake and introduce herself, Mark pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed it, causing Arizona to give an involuntary shudder which didn't go unnoticed by Mark. "Well I'll tell you something I don't usually have that effect on women, when they shudder it's purely for pleasurable reasons if you get my drift", Mark winked at Arizona, not looking in the least bit put off by the look of disgust on her face.

"So can I buy you a drink or we could dance? Even better we could skip both of those options and go straight for option three" Mark said.

"Which is what exactly?" Arizona asked, now looking vaguely amused, all the while aiming a kick at Teddy under the table which soon sobered Teddy up enough to stop the silent fit of laughter she was having.

"We head back to my place for a night you'll never forget" Mark said in a matter of fact tone with a lecherous grin plastered on his face.

"Hey where did you get to? And why do you look like someone killed you're puppy?" Callie asked as Mark returned to his seat a few minutes later.

"Okay get this, Teddy is here so I went over to say hi and I hit on her friend, wait for it, she turned me down flat!". Callie couldn't help but laugh in her friends face, "don't laugh Torres, this girl is absolutely smoking hot, how can she not want to experience the Sloan method?" he asked with an indignant look on his face, "she must be gay, that's the only possible answer, she's over there with Altman, so what do you think? Gay or what?".

Callie just laughed at her friend's logic that all women immune to the Mark Sloan charm must be gay. Just as Callie turned to take a look she heard a tinkling laugh that she knew she had heard before, as she whipped her head around towards the sound she saw the woman from the coffee shop talking animatedly with Teddy.

"Torres you still with us?" Mark asked as he watched his friend stare over at the woman with her mouth half open.

"Name?" was all Callie could manage in response to Mark, not taking her eyes off the blonde beauty across the room.

"Huh?" came Mark's eloquent reply.

"You hit on her, so you must of at least got her name. What is it?" Callie asked all the while trying to resist the urge to gouge her best friend's eyes out for the dirty thoughts he was having about her crush, so what if she was having the same thoughts?

"Um, I didn't actually ask" Mark answered and with one last dirty look at Mark, she made her way over to the table where the blonde had her back to Callie.

"Pink elephants, pink elephants!" Teddy whispered frantically to Arizona.

"Huh? How much have you had to drink Teds?!" Arizona laughed at her friend, she was pleasantly surprised to find that she was having a good time, even if she did have to resist the urge to stare at Callie every five seconds.

"Pink elephants!" Teddy whispered again "code word dumb-ass!".

Before Arizona could decipher the meaning of Teddy's 'code word' her heart almost stopped as she felt someone stop behind her and clear their throat. Slowly turning around she found Callie standing right next to her, too close, she could smell her perfume and Arizona couldn't breathe through her Callie filled haze. As Arizona took out a breath she looked up and made contact with Callie's eyes but Callie wasn't looking at her at all, she was looking at Teddy.

"Dr. Altman, it's good to see you. Would you mind introducing me to your friend please?" Callie asked sweetly.

Caught off guard, Teddy glanced between her friend and Dr. Torres, _think Teddy think! Oh what the hell. _"Uh sure, Dr. Torres, this is my friend Arizona Robbins, Arizona this is Dr. Callie Torres. Callie is an orthopaedic surgeon at SGMW".

Arizona immediately closed her eyes at the word orthopaedic, _great, not only is she a doctor but she's an orthopaedic surgeon. Just great. _Her mind immediately filled with the picture of the orthopaedic surgeon who had cut off her own leg. Arizona made a decision, she stood up and took Callie's hand and gave it a firm shake, ignoring the jolt of electricity she felt tingle trough her hands, "it's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Torres but if you will excuse me I need to use the bathroom". And with that, Arizona made her way across the bar and away from the intoxicating scent of Callie Torres. _So now she would know. _

Callie watched as Arizona made her way toward the bathroom, instantly recognised that she was walking with the aid of a prosthetic limb. She was doing well to hide her disability, so much so that she thought that most people would think of it as only a limp but Callie had amputated too many limbs to recognise it for anything other than what is was. _My crush is an amputee._

Callie was brought out of her reverie by Teddy's voice, "do you remember the plane that went down earlier this year, carrying those doctors from Hopkins? Arizona was on the plane".

Callie couldn't process her thoughts quickly enough, "she's a doctor?" was all that came out.

Before Teddy could respond, Callie was making her way to the bathroom, her own decision already made. The decision being that there was no decision to make at all.

As she entered the bathroom she saw Arizona leant over the sink, taking deep calming breaths but all she could think about as the blonde looked up to meet her gaze was how utterly captivating this woman was. With that thought in her mind, Callie closed the distance between them, took Arizona's face in her hands, and placed a soft, tender kiss on her lips.

"I'm an amputee" Arizona whispered.

Callie simply looked at her, kissed her again and replied "so what's your point?".


	4. Chapter 4

**So this chapter came out way heavier than I planned but it felt true to the situation so I've stuck with it. My wife proof read this for me so any mistakes are all her fault!**

"So the way I see it is you have two options when you leave this bathroom. You can go back to Teddy, have what I'm sure will be a very pleasant evening and then go home and I'll let you, no chasing no nothing. Or you can come and sit with me, let me buy you a drink and we can get to know each other a little better" Callie said firmly, hoping that she was coming of much more confident on the outside than she felt on the inside. Before she could be rebuked by Arizona yet again, she turned on her heels and made for the door, stopping with her hand on the hand, without turning, she said to Arizona, "I really hope you pick option two", with that she left and closed the door behind her.

Arizona let out a breath, one she had been holding in for Callie's entire mini monologue. Arizona _really _wanted to pick option two but she just couldn't rid herself of those niggling doubts. More than anything it bothered her that she would never have had such doubts before the crash, how much longer was she going to let the crash dictate her life ? She thought to herself ruefully. With that thought running through her head, she exited the bathroom and walked back into the bar, her decision made.

"Torres what's your deal tonight?" Mark asked his friend whilst following her line of site "and why are you staring at the bathroom".

Callie either was ignoring him or just not listening, her eyes were fixed on the bathroom her leg bouncing nervously, "c'mon, c'mon" she muttered to herself. After what felt like hours to Callie, the object of her desire came into view, the Latina letting a huge grin spread across her face as their eyes made contact and Arizona made her way over the Callie's table.

"Mark, leave" Callie said without breaking eye contact with the blonde as Mark let out a grumble and made his way over to Teddy's table instead.

At the same time Arizona reached Callie, "So I believe you promised me a drink?".

"Okay so I figured, I should put some cards on the table, I want you to know what you're getting yourself into" Arizona said to Callie as soon as she returned with their drinks.

"You're not a serial killer are you?" Callie quipped, trying to lighten the mood. Taking note of the stubborn look on the blondes face she decided to take a different approach "right well, I'm all ears to your cards if you listen to mine too".

Arizona's head snapped up in surprise, "yours?" she asked.

"Yes mine Arizona, now do we have a deal or not?".

"I was in a plane crash four months ago and had to have my leg amputated so now I'm a disabled person who is having to learn how to be mobile all over again, I feel ugly and disgusting pretty much all the time and that's just the physical side of things. Mentally, I'm a mess who can't control the paralysing fear I feel most of the time, so much so that I don't even know how to start trying to be the person and surgeon I once was. I feel like she died in that crash and left this person I don't know or like left behind instead – so do you still want to date me knowing all of that?" Arizona asked without ever lifting her eyes off of the glass in front of her.

Callie raised an eyebrow at the blonde, "are you finished?" she asked, causing Arizona's head to snap up once more.

"I guess" she replied.

"Good, now it's my turn – and no interruptions please" she stated as Arizona looked as though she were going to cut in. "I was married to a man once who I loved much more than he ever loved me, he then cheated on me with his best friend, I was so messed up about it that I almost threw away my career when I was fired from being Chief Resident. Then I started a relationship with a woman, she was my first girlfriend and she left me in the middle of a parking lot at the hospital and I haven't seen or heard from her since. I finally pick myself up off the floor and start a relationship with another woman but my family disapprove of me being gay or bisexual or whatever and threaten to disown me if I don't end things with this woman. So I make the extraordinarily stupid decision to leave her and choose my family, only to realise that I can't hide who I am from my family so they cut me out of their lives completely and my girlfriend wouldn't take me back because of the decision I made. That was a year ago and I've been going through the motions ever since, lonely and celebate, too scared to open myself up to anyone" Callie finished fixing Arizona with a hard stare. "The point is Arizona, is that we all have scars, you just happen to have a pretty big one on the outside".

Arizona was speechless as she looked at the woman sitting in front of her, feeling as though she might be seeing the real Callie for the first time. She might come across as brave and confident but there was also vulnerability and a huge capacity to care. "I'm sorry those things happened to you. I never used to be one of those people who thought only of their own troubles without thinking of others but it's a trap I seem to have fallen into lately", she thought of Teddy and how she hadn't once asked how she was doing, it's not like she hadn't noticed her best friend's struggle with having Owen back in her life.

"From what little I know of the crash from the news, you went through something incredibly traumatic Arizona, it's understandable to be a little introverted for a while" Callie responded.

"Can we start over?" Arizona asked, "we both have scars, that much has been established but I desperately want to get some normally back into my life. I'm not ready for anything big like being a doctor again or even talking about it but I can start with the little things. So for a start, I definitely wouldn't have had such deep and meaningful conversations like this on a first date before I was in the crash so lets lighten things up a bit with a game of darts shall we?" Arizona asked Callie.

"This isn't a date" came Callie's response but before the disappointment had barely had time to flash across Arizona's face she continued "I don't take beautiful women to dirty bars for dates. Tomorrow night is the date, if you're free. I could cook for you?" Callie asked, sensing that Arizona wasn't quite ready for anything to big just yet.

"That sounds perfect" Arizona replied with a radiant smile that left Callie glad she was sitting down, she could see those dimples causing her major problems in the future, _whoa Callie, slow down. _On that note they proceed to spend the next hour playing darts and making comfortable first date small talk, sticking to safe subjects such as favourite movies, books and food. Neither one of them wanting to delve into the deeper topics that would eventually have to come out in more detail.

As Joe called time at the bar, they both made their way over to the table where Teddy and Mark were sat. Both of them slumped over their drinks, clearly having their own little pity party as they discussed their own disastrous love lives with Owen and Lexie respectively. As much as she didn't want the night with Callie to end, Arizona was really starting to feel tired and extremely uncomfortable, she had really put some stress on her leg tonight. Plus she felt it was time to be there for Teddy, long overdue actually, "let's go Teds, I'll call us a cab" and with that, all four of them made their way out of the bar.

"So is my place okay for tomorrow night? I live in that building over there, its on the fifth floor but it has elevators" Callie advised.

As they made arrangements the cab arrived and Callie pulled gently to the side as Mark helped Teddy into the car. Callie looked at Arizona and felt her heart flutter, it unsettled her how much this woman could make her come undone.

"I find you miraculous. I know you don't see that now but you will at some point. Now if it's okay with you, I'd like to give you a goodnight kiss?" Callie asked, deciding to forgo spontaneity in favour of finding out if what she was feeling one just a one sided thing, _God I hope it isn't. _"Look at me" Callie said to the blonde, it was neither a statement nor a question.

Arizona slowly lifted her head and looked into Callie's eyes and saw so many things looking back at her but there was no sign of repulsion or pity she expected to find, instead there was nothing but calm reassurance staring back at her. Never taking her eyes off Callie, she raised both her hands to Callie's cheeks and pulled her in for a slow, sensual kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow".


	5. Chapter 5

**So here is date night! Let me know what you think...**

Today was a good day, Arizona thought to herself as she made her way up to the Cardio ward at the hospital. She'd had a great PT session that had left her aching all over but she finally felt as though she was making real progress. So much so that her therapist had given her a target to aim for over the next few sessions, if she could make enough progress then she could get fitted for a running leg. With that and the nervous excitement she was feeling over her date with Callie later on, today was definitely a good day. Arizona even felt confident enough to go and find Teddy to see if she had time to get some lunch, usually she couldn't get out of the hospital fast enough after her PT sessions.

As Arizona made her was over to the nurses station she was stopped in her tracks by the sound of her best friend's voice coming from down the hall.

"Arizona? Is everything okay?" Teddy asked as she rushed over to greet her friend.

"Everything is good Teds, I've just had a PT session and I was just wondering If you had time for some lunch before I went home?".

Teddy couldn't wipe the gob smacked look off of her face fast enough but certainly wasn't going to question her friend's sudden perky demeanour.

"I'd love to but it'll have to be in the cafeteria just in case I get paged, is that okay?" and with Arizona's agreement they made their way towards the elevator.

Teddy could barely keep the grin off of her face throughout their lunch as Arizona babbled away happily about how much she was looking forward to being able to go running again, what she was thinking of wearing for her date and and asking questions about Teddy's day.

"Teds? You still there?" Arizona asked, waving her fork in front of Teddy's face, soon becoming alarmed as a tear slid down her best friend's face, "whoa what's wrong?".

"It's nothing, I'm being stupid it's just... I've missed you. This is the first good day you've had in a long time and well... I've missed my cutesy, rainbows and butterflies best friend" Teddy finished with a watery chuckle.

Arizona gave her friend's hand a squeeze and said, "I can't promise that this will last but I really do want to have more good days than bad, and today is definitely a good day".

Teddy lifted her soda can and said, "well here is to more good days than bad ones" and waited for Arizona to lift her juice box to the can in a toast but she no longer had the blonde's attention.

Instead, Arizona was staring somewhere behind Teddy with an expression on her face that Teddy couldn't quite make out.

"Pink Elephants, Pink Elephants!" Arizona hissed, and before Teddy could respond with anything more concrete than a bemused stare, Owen had reached the table.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked with a warm smile causing Teddy to adopt her rabbit in the headlights look she had been perfecting in Owen's presence recently.

Completely oblivious to Teddy's internal struggle, Owen turned to away and said, "Arizona it's great to see you again".

"You too Owen, please take a seat but I'm afraid I have somewhere to be, Teddy will eat with you though won't you Teddy?" Arizona said to her friend sweetly.

Teddy simply aimed a kick at her under the table. Arizona just grinned at her friend as she got up to leave before stopping and whispering to Teddy "it's rude to kick a disabled person's prosthesis don't you know" before exiting the cafeteria.

* * *

Callie was stressed, she had spent the best part of the afternoon making sure the apartment was clean or preparing a delicious dinner or choosing the perfect outfit. Now she had done all of those things and she still had twenty minutes to spare and she couldn't sit still, tonight needed to be perfect. She was shook out of her reverie by a loud knock on the door, noting that Arizona was early, Callie took a few deep, calming breaths before opening the door.

"Whoa, Torres you look hot" Mark observed as he sidestepped Callie, completely missing the not so welcoming look on her face and walked straight into the apartment.

"Mark!" Callie whined, "you can't be here, Arizona will be here soon for our date soon so you need to... wait... like too hot, like I'm trying too hard? Or like I'm ridiculously overdressed for the occasion or like I'm some sort of hussy who...". Before Callie could finish there was another, lighter knock on the door.

"That'll be Arizona" Callie squeaked but made no effort to move, instead Mark just rolled his eyes and made his way to the door instead.

Arizona's look of surprise at finding Mark at the door was soon replaced with a neutral expression, "uh Mark hey, I was looking for Callie? I'm pretty sure this was the address she gave me..." she tailed off, looking down at piece of paper Callie had scribbled her address on the night before.

"You got the right place, I live just across the hall and was just leaving" he said as he moved to the side to let Arizona in but made no effort to actually leave and instead just looked at the two women with an amused expression.

Arizona moved into the apartment and fixed her expression on the Latina, giving her a warm smile. Callie could only give a weak smile in return, Arizona looked amazing in dark blue boot cut jeans, black pointed boots with a low cut green blouse peeking out from underneath a black blazer with three-quarter length sleeves. Her her was in curls today as they bounced off her shoulders and she had only a very light amount of make-up on. Callie let out an involuntary sigh as she appraised her date, only to blush furiously as Arizona let out a tinkling laugh at her ogling.

"You look really pretty" Arizona said to Callie, feeling a little uncomfortable at having Mark for an audience. Caliie was wearing black skinny jeans with heels, a figure hugging blue top with her her hair left loose and her make-up smoky. Maybe a little overdressed for a night in but Arizona wouldn't change a thing.

"So you like how she looks then blondie?" Mark asked, "she's not too hot, or overdressed or hussy like?" he continued with a smirk as Callie shot daggers at him behind Arizona's back.

"First of all, is blondie the best you can come up with? And secondly? I seriously have no idea what you just said".

Before Mark could do any further damage, Callie quickly ushered him out of the apartment.

"So I hope you're hungry, I made chicken picatta" Callie said as she took Arizona's jacket, leaning across her to hang it up on the coat stand before moving into the kitchen to dish out dinner.

"I'm starving, it smells great" Arizona replied as she took a seat on the breakfast bar while surreptitiously checking Callie out, blushing when she realised she had been caught in the act staring at Callie's cleavage as she put a plate of food in front of her.

"What?" she asked as Callie just chuckled and took a seat next to her.

Arizona took a bite out of the food and let out a moan "God, Callie, this is amazing" as she took another mouthful, "how did you learn to cook like this?" she asked.

"From a result of being celibate" Callie replied simply before tucking in herself, pausing to pat Arizona on the back as the blonde choked on her food.

The pair finished their food in comfortable silence before making their way over to the couch, "so do you want to watch a movie or something?" Callie asked.

"Not just yet" came Arizona's response, "I'd like to know a little more about you if that's okay?".

"Sure, ooh lets play the questions game" Callie said enthusiastically.

"Okay but no heavy questions, today is a good day. Deal?".

"Deal" Callie grinned.

"Favourite colour?" Callie asked.

"Yellow".

"Childhood crush?" Callie continued.

"Cindy Crawford. My turn, favourite book?"

"A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, so Cindy Crawford huh?" Callie asked with a smirk.

"Yep, you're looking at a gold star lesbian right here. No icky boys for me. Next question?".

"Do you have any irrational fears?" Callie asked.

"I'm scared of Fantasia".

"You find a Disney movie scary?! Callie asked while laughing at the look on the blonde's face.

"Hey! Hippos shouldn't dance OR wear tutus!" Arizona replied with a perfectly serious look on her face. "Okay then what's yours then, too badass to have any?"

"Not exactly, I'm scared of Jello... What? Something that wobbles of it's own accord should not be edible" Callie stated with a small shudder at the thought of jello.

"Best childhood friend?" Callie continued.

"My brother Tim. He hated me at first though, no seriously he did not enjoy having to share our parents affections", Arizona continued at the look of scepticism on Callie's face. "When I was just a few weeks old he stole me from my crib, anyway it wasn't until two hours later with police everywhere and my parents frantic with worry that they found me sleeping in a cupboard". "Don't worry he got over that stage pretty quickly and then we were pretty much inseparable growing up" Arizona finished, trying to placate the horrified look on Callie's face.

"Scariest movie character of all time?" Callie asked.

"Pfft that's easy, Maleficent" Arizona responded.

"Who?"

"Sleeping Beauty duh! Like the scariest Disney villain of all time!".

"Obviously" came Callie's half amused, half sarcastic reply.

"My turn" Arizona said, "full name?"

"No".

"Wow, your parents must be really mean to name you no".

"No would be better than my full name. I'm not telling you".

"I think you're missing the whole point of the game here Callie".

"Can't you just ask me another question?" Callie pleaded.

"Absolutely not, I'm intrigued now".

"I'll tell you if you give me a kiss". Callie responded cheekily.

Without hesitation, Arizona pulled Callie into a kiss, not slow and tender like the others had been but frantic as their lips moulded together with Arizona's hand curled tightly in Callie's hair. Callie, no less eager with her hands wound around Arizona's waist, pulling them closer together. When oxygen became a necessity they broke apart, resting their foreheads together, breathing deeply.

"Calliope Iphigenia" Callie mumbled, making no effort to move away.

"Huh?" Arizona questioned, the kiss had temporarily made her forget the reason why she had instigated the kiss in the first place.

"My full name is Calliope Iphigenia".

"Calliope" Arizona mouthed, "it's beautiful" she stated with such a look on conviction that the name suddenly didn't seem so ugly to Callie any more, not coming from Arizona's lips anyway.

"So how about that movie? You can pick but I have an idea of one you might like" Callie said as she reluctantly moved away from Arizona and over to the DVD cabinet before returning and placing it in Arizona's hands, "it's my favourite Disney movie". She laughed as Arizona squealed in delight, this woman was adorable, she thought.

"Mine too!" and with that Callie went over and placed Sleeping Beauty in the player and settled back down on the sofa with Arizona, sitting a little closer than she had done all evening and braved putting an arm around the her shoulders but the blonde didn't seem to mind, choosing to snuggle place her head on Callie's shoulder as the movie started.

Today was definitely a good day.

**So I may have projected my own irrational fears of Jello and Fantasia into this story. And yes, my brother did lock me in an airing cupboard for two hours as a newborn. He loves me really. **


	6. Chapter 6

**First of all, thank you so much to all of you who are reading or reviewing this story, much love to you all.**

**Secondly – Lynetteh93, this one is not quite the ten times longer that you hoped for but it's longer than the others!**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter, let me know your thoughts...**

"Arizona!" Teddy called out as she saw her friend in the parking lot of the hospital

"Hey Teds, how was Boston?" the blonde asked as she gave her friend a hug. Teddy had been at a conference over the past week and Arizona had missed her.

"It was good thanks, have you got time for a coffee and a catch-up?" she asked.

Arizona nodded in response, "sure, I have a PT session in a couple of hours so I was going to try and see Calliope before hand but I guess you'll have to do" she said slyly to her friend.

"First of all, lets not forget who was around first missy and second of all how are things going with _Calliope_?", Teddy said with a cocked eyebrow.

"It's going great, we've had a couple more low key dates, nothing too fancy. It's just nice you know? Everything is just so easy with her, I'm actually thinking of upping the date ante and taking her to a fancy restaurant, I was thinking of that place over on Park West, what do you thi... Teddy...?".

Arizona looked around for her friend, vaguely wondering how long she had been left talking to herself when the mystery of Teddy's sudden disappearing act was suddenly revealed in the shape of Owen making his way over with another man she thought she might recognise.

"Arizona hey how are you?" the trauma surgeon asked.

"I'm great thank Owen and you?"

"Oh can't complain. Arizona, I'd like to meet Dr. Richard Webber, he's the Chief of Surgery here at SGMW. Richard, this is Dr. Arizona Robbins".

"Dr. Robbins of Johns Hopkins fame?" Dr. Webber enquired as her shook Arizona's hand, receiving an affirmative response he continued, "you're reputation proceeds you Dr. Robbins, may I ask how your recovery is going?" her asked.

"It's coming along very well thank you" she replied kindly.

"Excellent. You know I wouldn't normally put you on the spot like this but it's not often one of the best paediatric surgeons in the country lands on your doorstep. I have a case coming in early next week, a ten year old boy with short gut syndrome and extremely wealthy and powerful, I'd be indebted to you if you could consult?" he asked hopefully.

Arizona considered the man in front of her for a moment before making her decision, "well I'm really just trying to focus on my recovery at the moment but I guess one consult won't get in the way of that too much. I must say though, getting to the age of ten with short gut syndrome is practically unheard of so you mustn't expect miracles, no matter how good you think I am".

Having given the taken contact details from the Chief with a promise that she would get in touch with his assistant later that day to make an appointment to go over the case further she decided to share her news with Callie.

As Arizona made her way on to the orthopaedic ward of the surgical wing she glanced around, hoping to spot Callie but she was nowhere in sight. Instead she made her way over to the nurses station, "excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you but I was looking for Dr. Torres?" she asked the nurse you had yet to look up from the computer screen.

When she did look up however, she soon gave Arizona her full attention, "it's no bother at all" she replied with her best flirtatious smile but Arizona seemed to be oblivious, "I'm afraid she's in surgery though" the nurse said, "is there something I could maybe help with?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at Arizona.

"Would you mind just telling her that Arizona came by and that if she's out of surgery before one I'll be in the cafeteria if she wants to join me?" Arizona asked with a friendly smile.

"I'll be sure to pass the message along Arizona, I'm Colleen by the way" the nurse responded, holding her hand out to greet Arizona, keeping hold of the returned hand for a little longer than was necessary not taking her eyes off of the blonde as she exited the ward.

"Hey Dan!" Colleen called to one of the other nurses, "I need to take my lunch early, cover my patients?" and with that made her own exit off the ward and down to the cafeteria.

* * *

Arizona had been in the cafeteria for ten minutes, munching away on her salad whilst immersing herself in the latest edition of the New England Medical Journal.

"Hi Arizona, mind if I join you?". The blonde looked up to see the nurse from earlier on smiling down at her, _what was her name again?_ "No please do, I'm sorry though, I've forgotten your name?" she asked apologetically.

"It's Colleen and don't worry about it, my name isn't nearly as memorable as yours!" she laughed, "like the State I assume?".

"Like the battleship actually, my Grandfather served on the USS Arizona when Pearl Harbour was hit. He rescued nineteen men before her drowned" she stated before taking another bite out of her salad.

"Well that's quite the story, Arizona like the battleship" Colleen said, raking her eyes down the blondes body.

"So you're an ortho nurse?" Arizona asked Colleen, she wasn't keen to delve into her own history with the stranger but she seemed like a friendly enough lunch companion before her PT session at one o'clock. So Arizona listened politely to Colleen as she told her about her job and they continued to make small talk until the nurse's pager went off. "Sorry but duty calls, it was a pleasure to meet you Arizona, maybe I'll see you around?" she asked hopefully.

"I'm sure you will, I have PT sessions here most days, in fact I have one in a little while and then maybe I'll pop up to the ward again to try and catch Dr. Torres" Arizona replied, completely missing the signals that were being thrown her way.

Just as Colleen had left she was tapped on the shoulder by Teddy, "so I would have come and sat with you sooner but that nurse seemed to be taking awfully good care of you" she commented as she sat down with her eyebrows raised in Arizona's direction.

The blonde just looked at her and let out a laugh, "oh come on, she was just being nice! I went up the ortho ward to see if Calliope was free and... oh get you're mind out of the gutter she was just being friendly!". Choosing to ignore the sceptical expression on her friends, Arizona continued "anyway as nice as it is to be in demand, I have a PT session to get to, I'll catch up with you later?" before turning and leaving.

"Mmmhmm" Teddy muttered to herself, "friendly my ass".

* * *

Arizona was stoked as she made her way up to the ortho ward ninety minutes later, her physical therapist had just informed her that they could fit her for a running leg tomorrow. Excited wasn't the word, she'd be doing her morning runs again in no time, something she really missed doing. She really wanted to share the news with Callie and hoped she was out of surgery by now as she made her way over to the nurses station for the second time that day.

"Okay Mr. Henderson you're all set to be discharged I'd say" Callie said to her patient with a warm smile, "I'll go and sort your discharge papers and a nurse will be in soon with some after-care instructions for you".

As Callie left Mr. Henderson's room, her head snapped up as she heard what was quickly becoming her favourite sound, Arizona's tinkling laugh. As she looked over to the direction of the laughter she saw the blonde stood at the nurses station chatting animatedly to Colleen. What the Latina really wanted to know however, was why was Colleen stroking Arizona's arm like that? Somewhere in the depths of Callie's brain she knew she was being unreasonable but she couldn't help the feeling of jealousy that was coursing through her veins, especially as Colleen threw her head back in laughter at something Arizona had just said before playfully punching her on the arm. _Oh please, like Arizona would fall for such desperately obvious flirting like that _Callie thought to herself viciously. She had always liked the nurse but now she was wondering why she ever had done.

What made Callie feel even worse as she stood rooted to the spot watching the pair was that she wasn't sure she had a right to feel this way at all. Her and Arizona hand only been on a handful of dates, they hadn't discussed exclusivity at all much less if they were in actual real relationship. As Colleen let out another flirtatious laugh this seemed like a major oversight on Callie's part, why hadn't they had that discussion yet? Arizona was hot, there are probably women lining up for her, Callie thought to herself.

Pushing down another wave of jealously at the thought of all these woman Callie had made up in her head throwing themselves at Arizona, she instead made her way over to the blonde. "Calliope, hey!" Arizona said as she spotted the Latina making her way over to her. Callie just sidestepped Colleen completely before wrapping an arm around Arizona's waist and placing a kiss on her lips, "hey baby" she said to the blonde. Arizona looked momentarily stunned at Callie's sudden public display of affection coupled with the term 'baby' but she didn't seem to mind.

To Callie's delight, the look on Colleen's face was enough to turn milk sour. "Oh Hi Dr. Torres, are you two in a relationship then?" the nurse asked in a high pitched tone. Callie didn't know how to respond, she really wanted to say yes and tell Colleen to back the hell off but she didn't want to scare Arizona off. Taking note of the pained expression on Callie's face, Arizona sighed internally, obviously Callie didn't think they were in a relationship and just didn't want to hurt her feelings so she decided to answer the question herself, "Callie and I are just dating" she said to Colleen without taking her eyes off of the floor. She suddenly felt much less cheery.

"Oh I see!" came Colleen's response. Callie just wanted to punch the smug look right off of her face but decided that would be widely inappropriate, especially for a girl she was just casually dating she thought bitterly.

"Well Arizona like the battleship, if that's the case I hope to see you around very soon" she said to the blonde, throwing in a wink for good measure.

"The battleship?" Callie asked to Arizona but to her chagrin it was Colleen who answered first. "Oh yeah, Arizona was named after the USS Arizona, her grandfather was on board when Peal Harbour was hit. He saved nineteen men before he died – didn't Arizona tell you that? Don't tell me you thought she was named after the State!" Colleen said with a laugh before taking her leave.

Callie just stood there dumbstruck, her insides twisting painfully. It upset her that Colleen would know such an intimate detail about Arizona's history and she didn't, in fact, the blonde had barely opened up to her about anything vaguely deep or meaningful but yet she had told Colleen about something about her after knowing her for all of five minutes.

Arizona didn't know what to say, she genuinely thought that Colleen was just being nice to her, she was still having problems accepting that people could see beyond her prosthesis. She looked at Callie, took a step towards her and placed an hand tentatively on her arm only for Callie to immediately recoil at the contact, "don't" she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"You're jealous", Arizona stated. It wasn't a question but Callie responded anyway, "yes" before turning on her heals to leave.

"Calliope wait..."

"No, don't Calliope me" Callie said harshly as she whipped round to face Arizona once more before letting out a sigh as her pager went off, "I can't do this right now so please, just leave me be" she said before walking away.

* * *

"I think I screwed up Teds" Arizona said to the cardio surgeon the next day as she took a seat next to her in the cafeteria. She had tried calling Callie last night but it kept going to voicemail and she's even took a visit back up to the ortho ward this morning with no luck.

"You think or you know?" Teddy asked as she chewed on a carrot stick.

"I know" came Arizona's muffled response as she laid her head on the table in despair. "I had a non-fight with Callie and now she's avoiding me" the blonde said miserably, "I'm not even sure what I did wrong".

"Use your words Arizona, I'm going to need more information than that if you want me to help you" and with that, the blonde went to to detail yesterdays events to her best friend.

"So let me make sure I'm getting this right" Teddy began. "You have lunch with another, fairly attractive woman who clearly has the hots for you, which FYI, I told you so. You then reveal details of your past to said woman, then she flirts outrageously with you in front of Callie. She then goes on to reveal this aforementioned personal detail about you to Callie, when I'm guessing you haven't revealed so much as your parent's names to Callie herself. She then rubs this little titbit of information right in Callie's face before blatantly going out of her way to suggest she would like to see you again, with a wink Arizona, a wink for God's sake! Oh right and the best part? You telling Colleen, RIGHT IN FRONT OF CALLIE that the two of you are 'just' dating". She made air quotes over the word 'just'. "Did I miss anything out?" Teddy finished. "I swear Arizona, you are my best friend and I love you but you can be such a dufus at times".

To her credit, Arizona had the decency to look horrified with herself. Taking pity on her friend she said, "I saw her coming out of surgery twenty minutes ago, she's probably in her office if you have the time or inclination to catch her before PT".

"Oh I definitely have the inclination" Arizona said as got up, squeezing Teddy's shoulder before leaving.

* * *

Arizona knocked on Callie's door, opening it and closing it behind her when she heard a faint "come in". "Hey" she said meekly to Callie, "so I'm just going to say what I have to say and then go", Arizona paused, Callie hadn't said anything or turned away from her computer but as her hands had stilled over the keyboard, she knew she had the Latina's attention.

"I didn't notice anything about her", Arizona stated, earning a confused glance from Callie.

"Colleen I mean. I can tell you she has dark hair that rests a few inches above her shoulders but that's probably about it". Arizona steeled herself before continuiung, "you have dark brown hair and the most soulful brown eyes of anyone I have ever met. You have eyebrows that give almost as much away as your eyes do and you have a flawless complexion. Apart from a small mole near the base of your neck. You fiddle with your earrings when we talk, you chew your hair when you're watching a movie and you babble when you're nervous, much like I do". The blonde said, never taking her eyes off of Callie, "they are only little things but I find myself wanting to know all the little things about you, I have no interest in knowing any of the little nuances that make Colleen who she is" Arizona said before taking a breath and continuing.

"I'm proud of my name and have no problem with telling anyone who asks, it shows that my Grandfather was a good man in a storm and I will not hide that. If you had asked, which I'm sure it would have come up sooner rather than later, I would have had no qualms in telling you either".

"I told Colleen that we are just dating for two reasons. The first being I took your silence to mean that you were trying to think of a way to get out of an awkward situation whilst trying to spare my feelings. I apologise if I misread that, which, given your reaction, I probably did – I am still adjusting to someone want to be with the post-crash version of myself and I make no apologies for that, I am trying my best to be more confident in myself but that won't happen overnight. The second reason I said we were just dating is because, whether I like it or not, we are just dating. We have not had that conversation about what this thing is between us and probably wouldn't be having it right now if someone hadn't hit on me yesterday. So before this goes and further and someone tries to ask you out on a date let me say this, I want to be your girlfriend. I don't want us to just date, I want us to be in a relationship that is exlusive".

"Okay so I have a PT session I'm running late for so I have to go" Arizona said to Callie hoping to at least receive some sort of indication that the Latina had at least been listening. Receiving nothing she turned to leave before adding in an afterthought as Teddy's words swirled in her head, "oh and my parent's names are Daniel and Barbara".

* * *

An hour later Arizona was struggling. She had been fitted with her running leg and she was now being put through her paces on the parallel walking bars. Sweat rushed out of every pore as she gripped the metals bars tightly, working fiercely hard to maintain her balance. "How am I supposed to run in this thing if I can barely walk in it?" she panted to her therapist who was positioned close by, ready to catch her if she fell.

"Come on Arizona, did you think that you'd be able to strap that thing on and head straight out to the park? You're a physician am I really having to explain this to you?" He asked with an amused expression on his face, Arizona just grunted in response as she felt her grip on the bars slip, his expression became more serious as he continued, "you know it would kill you to bring someone along with you to these sessions, maybe you'll let them help me more that you'll let me".

"Why would I let anyone see me like this? Arizona huffed, really struggling to remain upright at this point but a fierce look to her PT told him not to help but he moved behind her all the same. "Besides" she continued, "there isn't anyone" she finished, her arms no longer able to support her, her body crumpled but was caught in a strong embrace before she could hit the ground.

"Now you and I both know that that is a huge lie" a voice husked in her ear. Arizona whipped her head around to find Callie smiling at her, before she could react any further to her sudden appearance Callie turned away from her and spoke directly to the PT. "

Hi" she said, "I'm Callie... Arizona's girlfriend".

**For the record, I have next to no medical knowledge and therefore have no idea if someone with short gut syndrome does well to get to the age of ten. I'm pleading creative licence on that one. **


	7. Chapter 7

**So I really struggled to write this chapter. I wanted Arizona to reveal some of her past to Callie without it turning into something ridiculously depressing. In the end I've just given up and decided to post but I don't think I can change it in a way that will make me hate it less – you have been warned! **

**Thanks as always to those of you who read/review. I take all reviews on board, even the less shiny ones – Alie365, I hope this is better grammatically and therefore easier to read. **

**Again, all mistakes are my own. **

"Okay what about this one?"

"Yeah it looks great" Teddy replied, not taking her eyes off of the magazine she was reading.

"You aren't even looking!"

Teddy closed her eyes and Arizona knew her best friend well enough to tell that she was counting to ten inside her head. "It looks just as good as the previous 48,343 outfits you have tried on tonight Arizona".

"Exaggerate much?"

"Stressed much?" Teddy retaliated.

"I can't help it, tonight is important Teds" Arizona whined as she pulled off the blouse she was wearing to replace it with another. "I used to be so good at this" she muttered darkly.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why is tonight so important? It's not like it's your first date".

"It's our first date with Callie as my girlfriend, it's our first date that is set outside of her apartment and it's the first date where I think I might be ready to tell her some things that go a bit deeper than 'my childhood cat's name was Henry'".

"That's great Arizona" Teddy said genuinely.

"I don't want to scare her off", Arizona's voice was barely above a whisper but she knew Teddy had heard her as she watched her friend scramble off the bed and walk over to the mirror where Arizona stood.

"Please don't take this the wrong way but I think if she was going to be scared off, she would have been gone by now". Teddy grasped the blonde by the shoulders and said firmly "You. Are. Great." Arizona responded with a nod and a deep breath before letting out a squeak when she heard the doorbell ring.

Taking control, Teddy walked over to the closet and pulled out the second top that Arizona had tried on that evening, a short sleeved, sapphire blue top that had a slit running down three-quarters of the back. Walking back to Arizona she said, "put this on, as much as I'm sure Callie would appreciate what you're wearing right now, I'm sure nothing on your top half but a bra wouldn't quite meet the dress code standards at the restaurant. I'll go and sit with Callie whilst you finish getting ready".

"Hi Callie", Teddy greeted the Latina warmly, "Arizona is just finishing getting ready. Come on in, you look really nice".

Callie looked down at her appearance, she was wearing fitted black trousers with a purple kimono style top and plunging neck line. "Thanks! It's not too much is it? What is Arizona wearing?".

"A red lace plunge bra last time I looked" Teddy replied nonchalantly causing Callie to choke on her own tongue.

"Excuse me?" Callie replied hoarsely. Her mouth had suddenly gone very dry at the thought of Arizona in her underwear.

"She's been having a little trouble choosing what to wear tonight" Teddy clarified. Callie just nodded dumbly.

Soon Arizona appeared at the doorway, "are you ready to go?" she asked as she walked over to greet her girlfriend with a peck on the cheek. Callie wasn't listening however, she was too trying to surreptitiously determine if Arizona was still wearing the aforementioned lacy red plunge bra by giving the blonde a hug.

"Calliope?"

"Huh?" Callie replied, making no attempt to break the hug.

"I asked if you were ready to go but you were too busy peering down the back of my top. You know usually my dates look down the front of my top Callie", Arizona said with an amused smirk.

Callie took a quick step back and stuttered, "what? No, I wasn't looking at your back, I err... you had a label sticking out is all and I don't peek. I mean the front, your front is nice, I mean its more than nice... not that I stare or anything but I have noticed, I mean...". Callie's ramblings were cut off with a kiss from Arizona, just a chaste one at first but it soon turned into something a little deeper before the blonde remembered that they weren't alone.

"You're cute when you spit feathers" she grinned.

Twenty minutes later they stood outside the restaurant, noticing the apprehensive look on Arizona's face she took the blonde's hand in her own and gave it a squeeze before gently leading the way through the doors.

As they were shown to their seats and given menus, Arizona took the opportunity to take a look around the restaurant and was pleased with what she saw. They had both agreed on Italian and this place had been recommended by her PT, it wasn't too big which gave the place a warm atmosphere. Arizona especially liked the log fire in the corner and the music that was playing lightly in the background.

Once they had placed their orders, they began making small talk, mainly about the hospital and Arizona's up and coming consult with the Chief before Callie decided to be brave and move the conversation onto a more serious tone.

"I'd like to know some things about you, I think it's important that I get at least some answers Arizona. The way Colleen made me feel... well I don't want to feel that way again, like I know nothing about the person I'm supposed to be in a relationship with".

Arizona eyed Callie for a few moments before saying, "It's fine you can ask questions, all I ask is that you believe me when I say to you that even though all the questions you probably have seem to have depressing answers, there are so many happy parts to my life that I want you to see too".

"Oh don't worry about that, I'm with you in spite of your underlying perkiness" Callie joked.

"If your bat cave of an apartment is anything to go by you need a little bit of perky in your life" the blonde teased.

Choosing to bypass the disparaging remark on her apartment, Callie took a drink and asked the first question that came into her head, "last relationship?".

"Her name was Amelia, we did our residency together at Hopkins. It was never meant to be serious, we both cared for each other but it was always just supposed to be fun and light. Neither one us were looking for anything serious when we were so busy trying to get our careers off the ground. Anyway, when residency finished she started a neuro fellowship in L.A and I stayed for the peds fellowship at Hopkins".

"So you broke it off?" Callie prompted.

"Yeah, she wanted to give it a try but I don't believe in long-distance relationships. We're still good friends though, she was one of the first people I saw when I came round after the surgery on my leg".

"How did you meet Teddy?"

"We went to Med school together, she was already enlisted in the army at that point but they were going to let her do her residency in a hospital programme, any way she got accepted into Cleveland Clinic but then 9/11 changed everything."

"And Owen?"

"Teddy and I wrote all the time, she would spend half her letters talking about this guy she worked with but he was engaged, anyway when her unit had their first leave scheduled, she brought him with her to Baltimore – just as friends, Teddy isn't a cheater in any sense of the word. I didn't see Owen again for another year, when he turned up on my doorstep I broke down right in front of him, convinced that he'd come with bad news about Teddy. Turns out he had been the doctor who had tried to save my brother after his unit was ambushed. He had been honourably discharged, too broken to handle any more war, his only request was that his last duty would be to deliver the news of Tim's death to his best friend's sister".

"The crash?"

"I don't think I can yet"

"Okay".

"Really okay?"

"Really. Besides, I think that's enough interrogation for one evening, plus I really want to know exactly why you have named my apartment the bat cave...". The pair spent the rest of the evening debating what Arizona considered to be 'dark and frowny' compared to Callie's 'modern and edgy'.

When they arrived back at Arizona's house, the blonde suggested they open a bottle of wine to which Callie agreed enthusiastically, she wasn't ready for the night to end at all. As Arizona went to fetch the wine and some glasses, Callie entered down in the living room taking her time to appraise her surroundings. The house showed obvious signs that it had been recently empty but it still had notable touches of the blonde, small things like bright cushions, a large bookcase filled to the brim and a side table that contained a handful of photo frames.

As her eyes poured over the people in the pictures she heard Arizona re-enter the room and immediately felt awkward for being caught snooping. Before she could say anything, the blonde had made her way over to Callie, wrapping her arms around the Latina's waist and resting her chin on Callie's shoulder.

"These are the people that mean the most to me" Arizona said, pointing to the first picture, "that one is of me and Tim on the day he was deployed". Callie looked at the picture, there could be no denying the two were related, both of them with matching blue eyes and blonde hair, each sporting goofy, dimpled grins.

"This one is of my parents on their wedding day". This picture showed Arizona's parents stood outside of a church, her Dad dressed in full Royal Marine regalia. Callie smiled at the look on the man's face, like he still couldn't quite believe how lucky he had got.

"This one is of me and Teddy on our graduation from Med School". Both Arizona and Teddy had their cap and gowns on, stood with their arms flung over each others shoulders, pride filled smiles stretched over their faces.

As Arizona went to turn away and move to the couch Callie stopped her, "you missed one". It wasn't hard to see why the blonde had decided to skip past that particular photo but Callie wanted to know all the same, "tell me about this one".

Arizona looked down at the photo-frame, it was a frame in the shape of an open book that contained spaces for four photographs. The first one showed Arizona with another woman, both screaming at the top of their lungs as they shot down a long flume ride at a theme park, water cascading all around them. The second picture showed Arizona in bar with a bunch of different people including the woman from the first picture, everyone was laughing into the camera with their glasses raised. The third picture did not contain Arizona at all but Callie guessed that the blonde had taken the picture instead, it was of the woman again, she was a beautiful brunette with a porcelain like complexion. She was sleeping peacefully in this picture in what Callie assumed, (judging by the picture of Tim in the background) was Arizona's bed. The fourth and final picture showed both Arizona and the brunette simply looking at each other with their foreheads resting together.

"That's Amelia" Arizona said simply.

"Did you love her?" Callie asked.

"Yes and no. She gave me what I needed, the relationship was fun, sexy and not too serious and I loved her for it. She wasn't my great love story and I wasn't hers but that doesn't mean we didn't care about each other, she'll always be one of my best friends" Arizona finished, looking at the photos with a fond smile.

"Tell me about your people".

"My friends are my people". Callie said as she pulled her purse out of her bag, pulling out a picture to show Arizona. "The redhead is Addison, she used to work at SGMW but she's in L.A now, then there is Mark who you've already met. He's pretty much a full on man whore but he's my best friend and he really is a great guy. Then there is Christina, she's my room-mate and has been here for me through a lot, especially when I was with George and even more so when we were divorcing. She acts like a robot but she is so much more than that".

"I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of ex-girlfriends though!" she added slyly, grinning to show that she was teasing. Callie was surprised to find that she wasn't jealous about the photos, of course seeing Arizona with another woman wasn't exactly on her top ten list of things to do, she was painfully aware that everyone had a past, not least Callie. Colleen was a different story entirely though.

Arizona just stuck her tongue out at the Latina. Callie had never considered adorableness to be a particularly attractive quality in the past but the blonde was certainly making her re-evaluate quite a few of her misconceptions.

"That's your response?!" Callie laughed, "I didn't realise I was dating an eight year old".

Callie's chuckle was soon cut out when the blonde reached her hands over to the back of Callie's neck and pulled her down into a searing kiss. It took Callie only a second to overcome her surprise and return the kiss in full and she was sure she had never experienced a kiss like it in her life. Her entire body hummed with tension as tongues and lips moulded together, fighting for control.

Far too soon for Callie's liking, Arizona broke the kiss and pulled away from Callie just a fraction and said breathlessly, "I'm sorry, it's just I've been waiting to do that all night and you have the most seductive laugh, I couldn't wait any longer".

Callie couldn't help it as a mega-watt smile graced her features, "don't ever apologise for a kiss like that" she said before carefully adjusting their position on the couch so that the blonde was pinned underneath her. She gave Arizona a soft kiss before asking "is this okay?".

"More than okay" Arizona responded huskily as she lifted her head up to meet Callie's lips, she lightly stroked her tongue over her girlfriend's lips and was immediately granted access. Callie moaned into the kiss as Arizona deepened it, slowly she lowered herself onto the blonde's body, leaving her hands free to settle on her girlfriends hips.

Taking that as a positive sign, Arizona wrapped her leg around Callie's back and tangled her hands in her hair, their bodies pressed into each other. Callie let out an involuntary grumble as Arizona detached their lips, only to let out another moan as she felt the blonde place chaste kisses along her neckline, gently nipping at her pulse point before making her way back up to Callie's lips for another kiss.

Callie's hands were roaming all over Arizona's back and sides, she grinned into the kiss as she felt the blonde gasp as she raked her hands over her bra. Callie really wanted to get underneath that top and see if the lacy red bra rumour was true but before she could decide, Arizona's voice pulled her out of her lust filled haze.

"We should stop" Arizona murmured into yet another kiss.

"We really should" Callie agreed, moving on to the blonde's earlobe, pouting as the blonde gave her another chaste kiss before pulling away slowly.

"I want to ask to you to stay", Arizona revealed, nervously biting her lip.

"I really want you to the ask me to stay too", Callie admitted with a grin which soon slid off of her face as she noticed a flash of fear spread across her girlfriends face. "Hey, hey", she soothed, reaching out to take the blondes hands in her own, "I don't have to stay, or if I do stay we don't need to do anything, there is no pressure at all".

"You haven't seen it and I really like you", Arizona mumbled.

Confused, Callie responded "seen what? And I really like you too".

"My leg, or lack of a leg to be specific. I _really _don't like the word stump but I guess that's what it is. I'm scared that you'll see it and you won't like me as much, which is really stupid I know because you've been nothing short of wonderful but I still haven't learned to love it so how can I expect someone else too. Plus it's all stumpy and now I'm rambling so I'm going to stop now".

"You know, I'm going to have to see it eventually"

"I have nightmares too", Arizona whispered.

"I'm going to have to see those too", Callie countered.

"Do you want to stay?"

"I do. But only when you are ready and willing".

"Then let's go to bed".


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

**Heloooo, so here is C8, hope you enjoy it! Thanks as always to you all. **

Arizona sat on the end of her bed trying to compose herself. She was about to let Callie see her residual limb for the first time and she was desperately struggling to get a grip of herself as the stark realisation kept hitting her in full force waves. She was about to cross some invisible line of no return and suddenly all these infectious thoughts had invaded her mind, taking root and spreading...

_What if I'm not ready for this? Maybe this is all going too fast... What if she sees it and is repulsed? What if she is not ready for this?_

Arizona took a few deep breaths, closed her eyes and thought of Callie. She thought of those beautiful eyes and mega-watt smile and the blonde suddenly felt calmer.

* * *

_I can do this. More than that, I want to do this. _With one last deep breath, Arizona opened her eyes and waited for Callie.

Callie sat on the toilet seat in Arizona's bathroom trying to compose herself. She was about to see her girlfriend's residual limb for the first time and she was desperately struggling to get a grip of herself as the stark realisation kept hitting her in full force waves. The responsibility she felt on her shoulders was overwhelming, like it was physically dragging her down suddenly all these infectious thoughts had invaded her mind, taking root and spreading...

_What if I pushed her into this and she's not ready? Maybe this is all going too fast... What if she is not ready for this? What if I am not ready for this?_

Callie took a few deep breaths, closed her eyes and thought of Arizona. She thought of those beautiful eyes and dimpled smile and the Latina suddenly felt calmer.

_I can do this. More than that, I want to do this. _With one last deep breath, Callie opened her eyes and re-entered the bedroom.

Callie stood rooted to spot by the bathroom door, she was too busy focusing on keeping all the emotions she was currently feeling in check - nerves, excitement, pressure and arousal all swirling around inside of her.

Reigning it all in she gave Arizona a small smile that she hoped would come across as warm and comforting but when the blonde looked at Callie and grimaced before quickly looking away, she thought it might have inadvertently come out as some kind of sleazy, come hither look she had seen Mark give to the nurses on so many occasions. _Shit._

"I'm sorry", Callie said quickly, still stood motionless at the bathroom door. She had no idea what she was apologising for but she thought it best to put it out there nevertheless.

"What are you apologising for Calliope?", the blonde asked quietly, not taking her eyes off of the floor.

"Uh well, you gave a look that pretty much screamed disgust so I figured I had done something to upset you or something so I thought it best to say sorry just in case". Callie finished lamely. "if you can maybe tell me what just happened?", she asked, not really sure she wanted the answer at all.

Eyes still trained on the floor, Arizona said, "it's what you are wearing, it's the pyjamas I gave you to wear".

Callie looked down at her appearance and the night clothes that Arizona had loaned to her. She was wearing navy blue boy shorts with light blue stripes running down them and a strappy red camisole top.

Shame filled Callie as her own insecurities were raised to the surface. She found herself thinking of that night so many years ago at the Archfield when she had suggested to George that Izzie had feelings him, only for him to laugh it off because there was no way someone as beautiful as Izzie would be interested in someone like him. That night he had shaved a good couple of inches off of her own self-esteem and here she was again...

"You don't like the way I look", she whispered, mortified with herself.

At this comment, Arizona's head shot up and although she knew it was completely inappropriate for the situation, she let out a laugh.

Callie flinched at Arizona's laughter and made her way towards the bedroom door, "okay so I'm going to go".

Arizona's laughter died in her throat. "What? Wait, let me explain" the blonde pleaded. Noting the hesitant look on the Latina's face she added, "please Callie, just come and sit next to me for a minute?".

Callie took a moment to deliberate before slowly sitting on the bed, maintaining a respectable distance away from the blonde. "I'm listening", she prompted not unkindly but there was definitely a bite to her tone that Arizona hadn't heard before.

"I thought you knew that I think you are beautiful, believe me the way you look is absolutely NOT the problem here. I'm sorry if I made you feel anything less than breathtakingly miraculous, which is what you are". Arizona said to the Latina, looking at her with such sincerity that Callie couldn't help but smile at and she was soon blushing as she watched her girlfriend rake her eyes over her rather exposed body. _I suppose these pyjamas do leave very little to the imagination. _

"I was already feeling nervous enough as it is about showing you a part of my body that is so ugly to me and then you come out looking like that and well... I guess it make me feel a little mismatched in the looks department". Trying to keep the tone light as to not upset Callie any more, she added with a teasing grin, "I clearly didn't think this through, I should been dating someone with a hunchback or a mono-brow to balance the scales".

Callie couldn't help but let out a relieved laugh as she turned to face Arizona, crossing her legs on the bed she said, "There are so many pretty words I could use to describe you Arizona but I'm just going to come out and say what I'm thinking pretty much 99% of the time when I look at you. You are hot. Like REALLY hot". Her words causing them both to laugh.

Emphasising her words with a smile, Callie said, "I'm ready when you are".

Arizona had already changed her in to her pyjama top, an oversized Dartmouth t-shirt that had belonged to Tim but she had purposefully chosen to wait to change her bottom half until Callie was present.

Slowly Arizona lifted her hand to the top of her jeans, Callie saw that her hands were trembling but she resisted the urge to help, something told her that an offer of assistance wouldn't be well received. Instead she said soothingly, "you don't have anything to be afraid of".

Finally Arizona's hands stilled enough for her to release the button of her trousers and lower the zip, red underwear peaking out from underneath. As deftly as possible, Arizona adjusted herself so that she could slip the trousers off completely, revealing one beautiful, toned, lightly tanned leg and one cold metal prosthetic.

There could be no denying that the difference was harsh and Callie couldn't help but wonder for a moment as to what Arizona would have looked like with both her legs, maybe wearing a dress with killer heals and how sexy that would have been. She quickly pushed that thought away, feeling both grief for something she would never experience and repulsion with herself for thinking of such a thing at such a time.

Callie forced herself to focus as Arizona continued to undress, removing the prosthesis and leaning it against the bed.

All that was left was the white sock that covered her stump, _the grand reveal, _Arizona thought to herself somewhat bitterly as she moved her hands to the top of the stock. Her movements however stilled as fear paralysed her and tears threatened to overspill.

Arizona watched as caramel coloured hands were placed on top of her own and listened as Callie said softly, "look at me".

Brown eyes never left the blue as Callie used her own hands to guide the blonde's hand down to remove the sock. Not once did she break eye contact, only looking down when she received a shallow nod from Arizona.

The medical part of Callie's brain told her that it had healed nicely and that whoever had performed the actual amputation itself had done a good job. The muscle definition appeared to be intact and the scar where the skin flaps were showed that the bone had been evened off nicely. She couldn't have done a better job herself, the actual prosthesis Arizona was using was a different story entirely however but she would save than conversation for another day. She was supposed to be looking at the limb as a girlfriend, not as an orthopaedic surgeon.

Callie smiled to herself as she felt more than a little relief. She had had her own set of doubts as to how she would feel about seeing the limb but she found the emotions she did feel such as sympathy or a sense of vanity were heavily outweighed by a sense of pride in the woman she was dating. Not to mention there was the overwhelming feeling of arousal at the sight of the half naked beauty that sat in front of her.

"May I?" Callie asked, trying to convey as much security into her look as to sooth the apprehension that Arizona was undoubtedly feeling.

Receiving an affirmative, Callie slowly placed a hand on both of Arizona's legs, palms open, fingers softly stroking the creamy skin. As she felt the blonde tense underneath her hands, she continued her ministrations as she moved up onto her knees and lowered her lips down to meet Arizona's. It wasn't passionate or intense in any way but it was soft, gentle and perfect.

Giving the blonde another kiss she lowered her body so that she was now eye level with Arizona's leg, she looked up and met the petrified gaze of those blue eyes and didn't break contact as she placed a light peck on the end of the limb before returning to place another peck on her lips.

"There isn't a single part of you I would change" Callie said simply and it was the truth. "All of this shows how strong you are. To me, you are radiant".

Unable to speak for the silent tears that were now falling freely, Arizona pulled Callie into an embrace. Neither of them speaking for a long moment until Arizona stated "thank you – thank you for so many things".

Shushing her gratitude away they made their way under the bed covers, Callie pulling Arizona into her front as they settled, lazily stroking the blondes arms and sides, right down to her leg. Both too emotionally exhausted to do anything other than to lie in each others arms.

"Goodnight Arizona".

"Goodnight Calliope".

**I would just like to point out that I have absolutely nothing against people with hunchbacks or mono-brows!**

**Also, a couple of you have asked if I will be including 'sexy time' in this story to which, the answer is I'm not sure yet. When I told my wife I was thinking about including a sex scene – she laughed in my face and then proceeded to quote Dr. Bailey from episode 5x04 that apparantly describes me perfectly:**

"**I don't talk about Sex"**

"**I don't talk about sex with anyone, ever. Not any kind of sex".**

**So anyway, the answer is... maybe!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry that you have had to wait longer than usual for an update but given that this is twice as long as any of the previous chapters, I hope you'll forgive me. **

**Thanks to those who read and review, all spelling/grammatical errors are my own. **

The following morning, Callie was awoken by the soft vibrations of her cell phone on the bedside table. Reaching over, she picked it up and saw that she had a message from Mark:

**I've been banging on your apartment door for fifteen minutes, get your ass out of bed – you promised**

Callie cursed mentally, she had completely forgotten that she had promised she would work out with Mark this morning. Looking across at the sleeping form she was sharing a bed with, she found herself feeling not in the slightest bit sorry.

**Err... oops? I'm not home, I stayed at Arizona's last night. Sorry! - Rain check?**

**You aren't in the slightest bit sorry, you can buy me a beer later to make up for it. Go back to your girl you dirty stop out.**

Callie put the phone away, turned her attention to her sleeping partner and smiled to herself at the sight in front of her. Arizona had turned onto her front in the middle of the night meaning that all Callie could see was a mass of blonde curls spread over the pillow with her hand haphazardly flung about. Further down, the quilt had slipped so that it was just covering her shorts, leaving Callie a very nice view of the blondes exposed back where her tank top had ridden up ever so slightly. Deciding she could do with more sleep she snuggled back down into the bed, grinning widely as a sleeping Arizona flung an arm over Callie's stomach.

Callie slept for another hour before she woke again, this time, she awoke to an empty bed. Noticing a slip of paper on Arizona's pillow, she picked it up and read:

-Calliope, I've gone to get us some breakfast-

P.S. Now might be a good time to mention that I can't cook – at all.

Arizona xx-

The Latina had barely finished reading when she heard the front door open and close and a minute later Arizona was back in the bedroom. She was dressed very casually in dark blue running sweats and white hooded sweatshirt, she wore no make-up and had her hair tied back in a pony tail – yet Callie couldn't think of a time when she had seen the blonde look more beautiful.

"Good morning", Arizona said perkily.

"Eurgh, you're a morning person, our relationship is doomed" Callie grumbled whilst cocooning herself further into the bed.

Laughing softly, Arizona made her way over to the bed and sat down next to the lump in the duvet that was Callie.

"Well you won't be wanting any of this coffee or these bagels then I take it?", Arizona asked innocently, whilst wafting the coffee cup around, ensuring the aroma filled the room. She grinned as Callie peeked her head out from under the duvet.

Sitting up and taking the coffee and bagels with a thank you, Callie said "well just to let you know, I expect coffee and breakfast goods every time you wake me up at...", she looked at the clock "...Eurgh, 7.30am?".

"Twelve years of getting up for a morning run is a hard habit to break", Arizona explained. "Besides, I wasn't sure if you were working today so I thought it best to wake you up just in case".

"I'm off today" came Callie's response.

"Any plans?"

"No, I have a few errands to run, grocery shopping, that sort of thing but nothing major. I was actually hoping maybe we could do something together? I mean it's totally fine if you don't want to, we have been together for the last twelve hours and..."

Callie's ramble was cut off when Arizona placed a finger over her mouth and said "Calliope hush, are you trying to talk me or yourself out of it? Because I was kind of hoping you might want to help me with something".

"Sure, what do you need?"

"I want to go for a run"

"Arizona I don't think..."

"Light jog?", the blonde interrupted.

"Arizona I..."

"Okay power walk then, but really anything slower than that and there isn't much point in using the running leg at all", Arizona said purposefully.

"Are you going to let me answer?"

"No because I know that you're going to say it's too soon but its been a couple of weeks now since I was fitted and I really used to love to run, it would be like getting some normality back. Besides, I'm asking you as my girlfriend and not the orthopaedic surgeon who thinks she knows better".

"Well as your girlfriend, I'm saying maybe you should have a few more PT sessions on it first" Callie said, "the girlfriend part of me and the orthopaedic surgeon part of me get along really well by the way".

"David says it's okay"

"Really?" Callie asked, her voice dripping with scepticism. "I'm finding that very hard to believe that your PT has okayed a trip to the park so soon after your fitting".

"He did!" Arizona exclaimed but this did nothing to convince Callie, especially as the blonde was refusing to make eye contact and was squirming where she sat.

"Uh huh, I'm going to need full details of that conversation"

"Okay fine!" Arizona huffed, throwing her hands up in the air dramatically, "there may have been one teeny condition to me going to the park for a run". The blonde held two fingers a millimetre apart as to show just how tiny this condition was.

"I'm waiting"

"hesaidicouldonlygoifyouwentb ecauseyoureanorthopicsurgeon " Arizona mumbled quickly.

"Okay, just so you know, I didn't understand a single word of that. Do you think you could try and separate your words? And maybe speak up a little too"

"He said that I could only go if you went with me because you're an orthopaedic surgeon"

"Oh so when you said you were asking me as your girlfriend and not an orthopaedic surgeon, maybe that should have been the other way around?" Callie asked with a smirk.

"Well it's a good job that the girlfriend side of you and the orthopaedic surgeon side of you get along really well then isn't it?". Arizona smart mouthed. Deciding it was time to let out the big guns she batted her eyelids and gave Callie her best dimpled smile.

"Fine. But I have a few conditions of my own" Callie said, trying to look as stern as possible but failing miserably, she would swear that those dimples could be used for the power of evil.

"Name them"

"One. We stop as soon as I say so. Two, we have a picnic in the park whilst I teach you the art of people watching. Three. You are not allowed to use your dimples against me for at least a week. What do you say?"

"Deal" Arizona grinned as she leant forwards and placed a soft kiss on Callie's lips.

* * *

Less than an hour later, Callie had arrived home as she had a few errands to run before her trip to the park with Arizona later that afternoon. Given that Arizona didn't have her running leg with her at home, she had accepted Callie's offer to pick it up from the hospital for her. Listening to her messages on her answer machine as she rummaged around the kitchen making a shopping list. One was from Addison chastising her for not returning her last few calls and the other three were all from Mark this morning, shouting at her to get out of bed and answer the door. Stopping what she was doing, she deleted the messages and picked up her phone and dialled.

"I was beginning to think you had been abducted by aliens you horrible, horrible friend. I have had to go out on three bad dates and you weren't around to fake page me" came Addison's voice from the other end of the line.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I've been having some pretty amazing dates"

"It doesn't make me feel in the slightest bit better funnily enough" Addison grumbled but Callie knew she was only teasing. "Eurgh, I can practically feel you waiting to gush, go on then".

"She's amazing Addison. She's smart, funny, caring and so, so hot, she's a surgeon too so she gets how it's hard to balance work with a personal life. She's been through a lot recently but she is so strong, did I mention she is seriously hot?"

"Yeah I think we've covered that she's hot. What's her speciality? You can tell a lot about a surgeon from their speciality".

"Oh really? What does mine say about me?" Callie asked.

"Badass" Addison replied simply. "Strong on the outside, soft on the inside".

"And yours?"

"Pfft that's easy, all Obstetricians are rock stars" Addison dismissed, "so this super hot surgeon's speciality?"

"Peds".

"Hmmm"

"What exactly does that mean?"

"Okay, so peds is the most competitive so she would have to be good to get into that field in the first place but if she's really good – hardcore, vicious, perky and extremely caring, all in equal measure".

"Well I think when I tell you that she recently completed her fellowship in paediatric surgery at Hopkins, that will tell you how good she is".

"Wait – your hot surgeon is Arizona Robbins?"

"Yeah, err, how exactly do you know this?"

"My question would be how you didn't know about her before you met her? She is one of the best young peds surgeons in the country, coupled with the fact that she was in a plane full of doctors that fell out of the sky, she's pretty well known". Callie winced at the harsh description of the plane crash but before she could say anything, Addison continued, "besides the hospital tried to get her to come here for her fellowship but she had a ton of offers and she chose to stay at Hopkins, her ex-girlfriend came here though and I know her pretty well".

"Amelia?" Callie asked "What's she like?".

"The best-friend answer is that she's a horrible person who doesn't hold a candle to you – ugly too. The honest answer is that's she's pretty great but still doesn't hold a candle to you. She was injured right?"

"Yeah..." Callie responded, not really wanting to go into detail right now. "Listen, can we talk later, I've got a few things to do and then I'm meeting Arizona".

Saying their goodbyes Callie hung up the phone before continuing to make her shopping list, she then took a shower and did some laundry before heading out to get some groceries and stop by the hospital to pick Arizona's 'running leg' as she had so aptly named it. She then returned to her apartment to change her clothes, admittedly taking a little more care with her appearance than she would do if she were going for a work out with Mark. Just as she was putting the final bits and pieces together for the picnic there was a familiar bang on the door, "it's open Mark", Callie called out, not looking up from her task to see him enter.

"Why do I have the feeling those clothes are not for my eyes?" Mark asked as he sauntered over to the kitchen counter where Callie was. He picked up an apple took a bite, "I get sweat pants and baggy t-shirt Callie, I'm taking it that sexy running shorts and fitted shirt Callie is for Blondie's benefit?" he asked before pausing, his forehead wrinkled in confusion, "wait she has one leg so she's hardly going out for a run, you playing the field Torres? Mark winked, "nothing wrong with keeping your options open" he added lecherously.

"I'm going out for a run with Arizona you moron, she's disabled not incapable. How exactly did you become a doctor again?". Callie asked.

"Are you serious about her?"

"I really am Mark"

"Then she needs the best-friend seal of approval"

"You hit on her and she turned you down, that's enough of a seal of approval for me" Callie dead panned as she picked up her stuff and made her way towards to the door, motioning to Mark, "come on out, I have places to be".

* * *

An hour later Callie pulled up next to Arizona's car at the park, the blonde had the trunk open and was sitting waiting for Callie. She was wearing what could only be described as dungaree type shorts minus the denim with a t-shirt that unless Callie was very much mistaken had Daffy Duck on it. Added to that, Arizona had her hair in braided pigtails and was practically bouncing on the spot in excitement, Callie couldn't help but think how adorable she looked.

"Hey you", Callie said as she dipped her head to drop a peck on the blonde's lips, "you sure about this?"

"Yep, lets do this!"

Arizona insisted she didn't need any help in putting the prosthesis on so she waited patiently, sending glares at anyone who dared to look at her girlfriend for any longer than a few seconds.

Once Arizona was fitted she took Callie's hands and let the Latina pull her to her feet. She then moved her hands to Callie's shoulders and braced them for support, just spending a few minutes light jogging on the spot to get her balance right.

"Okay, I think I'm ready"

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure I want you to stop asking me if I'm sure" Arizona snapped, backtracking as Callie raised an eyebrow in response, "sorry, I get cranky during PT".

"Okay then, I'm going to stay behind you for a little while, just whilst you get used to the surface"

"You don't have to do that"

"Yes I do – no arguments, besides..." she added with a smirk, "its a nice view".

"Calliope!" was all Arizona could respond with as she blushed.

Arizona did well, she stumbled a few times but managed to regain her balance without Callie's aid but her stamina just wasn't there, after twenty minutes there was a light sheen of sweat on her skin and her stride was becoming more and more erratic. After a couple more minutes, Callie halted the proceedings and immediately knew it was the right decision when Arizona made no attempt to argue and instead made for the nearest bench to sit down on.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Arizona rehydrated herself and caught her breath. Callie then suggested that she go back to the car for Arizona's prosthesis and their picnic, when she returned a few minutes later the blonde was looking much better for the rest. As it was a nice spot near the lake, they decided to eat right there, Arizona put the blanket out whilst Callie emptied the contents of the basket.

"Calliope this is amazing, you didn't have to go to all this effort" Arizona said.

"You don't seem to be complaining" Callie sniggered as she watched the blonde fill her plate to the brim.

"Gottokeepupmyenergy" came Arizona's garbled response due to the ridiculously large bite of the quiche she had just bit into.

"You did really well today Arizona"

"Thanks, I just need to build up my stamina because I'll tell you, that was not pleasant. I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier, I know you're just concerned". Arizona said, taking Callie's hand and giving it a squeeze.

"It's fine, I can't even begin to imagine how frustrating it must be for you sometimes".

"Yeah" Arizona said quietly, "things are much better now though, I can say it now but things got pretty ugly for a while, I was so angry and depressed all of the time. I don't know how my parents or Teddy and Amelia stuck around, it must have been suffocating for them"

"They love you"

"Well I am a very lovable person" Arizona said with a cheeky wink as she popped a grape into her mouth. Callie was very much starting to see just how lovable this woman really was, "so Dr. Torres, I believe you wanted to introduce me to the art of people watching". And with that, they spent the next hour eating food and making up ridiculous stories about the lives of passer-bys.

* * *

Morning runs had now become a regular thing for Callie and Arizona which was usually followed up with coffee and breakfast. This morning however, their run had only lasted thirty minutes before the heavens opened in typical Seattle fashion and by the time they had made it back to their cars the rain was torrential. Arizona also had her consult at the hospital today meaning their usual breakfast date was out of the question too, so with hurried goodbyes they both made their way home.

The rain hadn't gotten any better at all by the time Arizona arrived back home, she could barely see two feet in front of her. She got out the car and quickly made her way to the back seat to pick up her gym bag, straightening up suddenly when she heard a familiar voice.

"Arizona Robbins if you do not get your butt over here and let me inside this house right now, I will head right back to the airport and catch the first flight home! Need I tell you how gorgeous the weather is in L.A. right now?".

"Amelia!" Arizona squealed as she quickly made her way over to the sopping wet brunette, letting them inside the house before turning to give Amelia a huge bear hug.

"I hate Seattle already", Amelia muffled from somewhere within the depths of Arizona's vice grip. "It's raining, I may have hypothermia and/or webbed feet and the airport lost my luggage but I am choosing to look on the bright side of things. I may be soaked to my skin but you are soaked to your skin AND stink of sweat".

Arizona pulled away, laughing at Amelia's playful wrinkled nose.

"It's great to see you but what are you doing here?" the blonde asked.

"I've been asked to consult on a case at SGMW, besides, I figured it was time for a visit" Amelia shrugged, "I've made reservations at the Archfield but I couldn't wait to see you!".

"Pfft, you are not staying at a hotel when I have an empty guest room" Arizona said firmly.

"Are you sure, I don't want to get in the way?"

"You're staying here and that's that"

"Well in that case, do you think maybe I could take a shower and borrow some clothes?", she was starting to shiver.

Arizona showed Amelia to the guest bedroom and showed her how to use the shower before going to grab a set of clothes and towels for her. When she returned, Amelia was already in the shower so she peeked through the door and said,

"There are fresh towels and some clothes on the bed, I'm going to take a shower myself. I take a little longer these days so make yourself at home whilst you wait"

"Great thanks" came Amelia's response, "I'll make us some breakfast and then you can tell me all about this hot Latina you've been keeping secret and I can tell you about my latest saga with Jen".

"Why does your relationship with Jen always have to be a saga?", Arizona said, choosing to deflect the conversation about Callie for the time being. Instead she made her way to her own bathroom to shower.

* * *

Amelia had just gotten out the shower and had begun to change when she heard the doorbell ring, "shoot" she muttered to herself as she made her way to Arizona's bathroom, "do you want me to get that?" she asked.

Clearly Arizona hadn't heard her so when the doorbell rang again she decided to go and answer it. Opening the door she found herself standing in front of what she assumed was Arizona's new girlfriend. Addison hadn't been exaggerating when she had described Callie, except that the Callie in Amelia's mind looked a little less pissed off than the real Callie looked.

"Hot Latina?" Amelia asked.

"Excuse me?" came a rather unimpressed response.

Looking down at her attire Amelia winced, she hadn't got around to putting on jeans so was currently wearing nothing but a t-shirt and underwear with dripping wet hair, Arizona's underwear and t-shirt to be more precise. She could see why this didn't look good, especially when Arizona came stumping through on her crutches wearing shorts and a t-shirt with equally dripping hair.

"Calliope!" Arizona exclaimed and Callie noted that the blonde looked happy to see her which made her feel slightly better about the situation in front of her. Only slightly though, she would wait for a further explanation before saying anything though so she just nodded at Arizona, whose smile faltered at the cold reception from her girlfriend.

Noticing this, Amelia stepped in and said "this may be a good time to mention a few things such as I have a girlfriend and Arizona has a girlfriend, that would be you I'm guessing, judging by the look on your face when I answered the door. We also showered separately".

"And you are wearing Arizona's clothes because..."

"Because they lost my luggage at the airport. Did I mention I have a girlfriend?".

Taking a moment to digest, Callie let out a laugh, not least at the look of abject horror on her girlfriend's face. Turning back to face Amelia she said,

"It's good to meet you, I've heard some pretty great things about you and not just from Arizona".

"Addison?"

"Yeah"

"She gushes about you in equal measure". Noticing that Arizona had not moved a muscle for at least a few minutes, Amelia excused herself to finish getting dressed.

Callie made her way over to the mute blonde, placed both hands on Arizona's hips before leaning in for a lingering kiss, "do you think maybe I could have a bit of warning when a hot ex-girlfriend turns up at your house?", she asked pulling away ever so slightly to push away the wet hair that was plastered to Arizona's face.

Not wanting the kiss to end, Arizona pulled Callie back in for a kiss, murmuring against her lips, "you had about as much warning as I did, I didn't know she was coming". Deepening the kiss Arizona suddenly stopped and placed a hand on Callie's chest, pushing her away a tiny bit, "hold up, you think she's hot?".

"Eh, if you like that sort of thing" Callie replied with a shrug, "she's not my type".

"And what is your type?"

"Blonde hair and blue eyes. Must have attributes include being hardcore, vicious, perky and extremely caring". Callie said, parroting her earlier conversation with Addison.

"Huh?"

"Never mind. I just stopped by because this ended up in my bag" Callie said as she handed Arizona her phone. "I thought I would drop it off before my shift".

Arizona smiled at how sweet Callie could be she pulled her into another kiss, this one was searing. Callie moaning lightly into Arizona's mouth as the the blonde ran a tongue along Callie's lower lip before being quickly granted access. Callie's hands tangled in wet hair whist Arizona pulled their bodies closer together causing Callie to moan once more at the contact.

"I can hear you!" came Amelia's voice from down the hall.

Breaking the kiss and leaning their heads together, Arizona laughed lightly at the pout that Callie was sporting.

"Now might be a good time to mention that Ameila will be staying with me"

"It's fine baby" Callie said as she made her way to the door causing Arizona to smile widely at the term of endearment that had slipped out of Callie's mouth. "I've managed to get Sunday and Monday off but I've got a million shifts in between then to accommodate having two days off – you have a good time with Amelia".

"I'll try and catch up with you today if I get time".

* * *

Two hours later, Arizona was stood outside the Chief's office and didn't mind admitting that she felt a little nervous, it had been a good six months since she had practised medicine at all and she wasn't entirely sure if she was ready. Steadying herself, she knocked on the door.

"Come in! Ah Dr. Robbins have a seat" Webber greeted Arizona warmly and pulled out a chair before returning to his own behind his desk. "Dr. Robbins thank you again for agreeing to take time out of your recovery to consult, the Andersons were very pleased when I told them you would be coming on board"

"I'm happy to help, I've been looking over the files you sent me, why have the parents decided to change his care? From what I understand, the Andersons are incredibly powerful and could choose any hospital in the country. Excuse my frankness, SGMW is a fantastic hospital with excellent paediatric facilitates but I don't think you will disagree in my assessment that you don't have the calibre of staff to make it a first choice for the Andersons. I would understand if it were a neuro or general case, maybe even cardio".

"I'm a friend of Mr. Anderson's father, we went to college together so we've known each other for a very long time. The Andersons are getting desperate, besides, they have tried the hospitals with a more specialised focus on paediatric surgery, the boy has been in and out of Boston for the past two years".

Arizona just nodded before the Chief continued, "we are trying our very best to make SGMW a frontier for paediatric surgery and our facilities are second to none. But as you correctly pointed out, we do not have a big name to come and run the department and without a big name we cannot attract a top calibre fellow. That isn't for a lack of trying though, if you remember, SGMW battled hard to bring you out here for your fellowship. No hard feelings though, Norman McHale's fellowship program at Hopkins is the brass ring".

"Is there anything I need to know before I meet with Wallace and his parents?"

"SGMW is a teaching hospital so whilst you are only here for a consult, anything you can do to help pass on your experience and expertise to our residents and interns would be greatly appreciated. We haven't allocated you any staff yet, I thought you might want to do that yourself, although as you can imagine there have been quite a few volunteers to see you in action. The residents and interns will be available with you on the first consult, you can make your choice then".

As they made their way down to the paediatric wing of the hospital, Arizona found quite a few doctors at the nurses station. Webber addressed them all,

"Everybody, I would like you to meet Dr. Arizona Robbins she is our paediatric consult on the Anderson boy. Dr. Robbins we have three interns with us today, Dr. Mostow, Dr. Grey and Dr. Guzman. Our residents are Doctors Karev, Yang and Avery. Dr. Robbins if you come with me I'll introduce you to the patient and his parents".

Webber led them all into the room and began the introductions, Arizona noticed that Wallace was working on some rather advanced algebra calculations and spent the next few minutes in conversation with him, she found out he wanted to be a doctor and quickly learnt how intelligent he was was for his age. She gave him a couple of medical dosage questions based on weight and he was positively gleeful as he got them all right.

"Okay" Arizona said as she moved away from Wallace and turned her attention to the other doctors in the room. "Dr. Avery please present".

"Wallace Anderson, ten years old. A resident at his previous hospital for seven months, before that he was in and out for two years. Suffers from short-gut syndrome" came Avery's response.

"Interns - what is short-gut syndrome?"

"It's a mal-absorption disorder of the small intestine" Dr. Grey said before directing her next comment to Wallace directly, "it means your body can't absorb nutrition"

"Surgical history Dr. Yang?"

"Fifteen intestinal surgeries to date including a bowel lengthening procedure which helped for a while but recently he has had to go back to being fed through a TPM".

"Next steps?" she asked to nobody in particular.

"Get an abdominal series and repeat his chemistries, that way we'll have a better view of what we are looking at and can plan a course of action from there", Karev said.

"Excellent. Dr. Webber do you have any objection to me rounding on a couple of patients later on? I'd like to take Wallace with me, got to do what I can to help with the future of medicine" she said, winking at Wallace.

"Of course!" came Webber's response, he looked no less enthusiastic than Wallace did.

"Super! Wallace, I'll see you later for rounds. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, we'll talk again once we have the test results".

Congregating back at the nurses station, Arizona said to the group, "right Dr. Grey, you spoke to not just me or the parents but the patient also, an essential quality within paediatrics so you are my intern on this case. Residents, answer me one last question, should we take this case on at all given the history?"

Karev got his answer in first, "these people aren't the type of people you say no to, they will get the surgery elsewhere so it might as well be from the best. Besides if we do the surgery, at least we can say we did everything we could. We can't say that if we walk away".

"And we have a winner" Arizona said cheerily, "advocating for our patients is also an essential quality in paediatrics. Dr. Karev and Grey, get me my tests and then I want you to brush up on your knowledge of short gut syndrome".

Two hours later the test results were in. "Do results usually come in this quickly?" Arizona asked. Karev had found her in the cafeteria having lunch with Teddy.

"They do when the patient's parents are as rich and powerful as the Andersons are"

"Dammit" Arizona said as she flipped the x-rays Karev had handed to her. "He's got a bowel obstruction and he's not compensating, Karev, I'll meet you and Dr. Grey up in the conference room in five minutes to go over the results".

"Mr. and Mrs Anderson, whilst I can perform the surgery, it is not without it's risks. I don't know how confident I can be that he will make it off of the table" Arizona explained to the Andersons.

"If you don't do the surgery, how long will he have?" Mrs. Anderson asked

"If I don't do the surgery then you would need to prepare both yourself and Wallace quite quickly" she said gently.

"And if you do the surgery?"

"If he makes it off the table, it would give us maybe two months to find another option, if one even exists at this point".

"Then do the surgery, I have not ploughed millions of dollars of research into short-gut syndrome so it can help some other kid"

Nodding, Arizona stood and said "Grey, Karev please go and prep Wallace for surgery, it will have to be done immediately".

* * *

"More traction please, Karev, a little help on the suction. Dammit!" Arizona yelled as Wallace's BP disappeared down the toilet and his pulse started racing, monitors suddenly blaring. "Alright start an epi drip now, more irrigation, just keep it coming. Clamp! Somebody get me more light, he's in septic shock. C'mon Wallace", Arizona urged. Letting out a sigh of relief as his pressure began to stabilise.

* * *

"Mr. and Mrs. Anderson" Arizona said as she limped her way over to the Anderson, the combination of her run this morning along with the surgery had left her struggling and exhausted. "Wallace came through", she paused as the Andersons let out a strangled cry of relief, "he gave us quite a scare for a moment in there and he will have to be monitored extra closely over the next twenty four hours. That aside, I'm hopeful it's given him at least a few more months".

Spotting Callie lingering in the far corner of the waiting room, Arizona excused herself with the promise that she would be available to come back at any point during the night if required, otherwise she would see them in the morning.

Moving over to Callie she didn't even bother to hide her exhaustion as she slumped herself into her girlfriend's embrace.

"Hi" she mumbled from the crook of Callie's neck.

"Hey. Why don't you let me take you home?" Callie soothed.

Arizona shook her head, "I'm going to stay at the hospital, I want to be nearby in case I need to come back in".

"Then stay at my place. It's closer to the paediatric unit than some on-call rooms" she joked. Arizona just nodded, too tired to say anything. Leaning into Callie as she put her arms around her waist to support her as they made their way out of the hospital and across to Callie's apartment.

* * *

Four days later Arizona and Callie were cuddled together on Arizona's couch whist watching American Bake Off. It was the first day that Arizona had allowed herself to come home, choosing instead to spend most of her time at the hospital, much to the chagrin of both Teddy and Callie. Wallace was doing great, so much so that the Chief had insisted Arizona go home for the day. They were arguing with each about which starter was the best when there was a knock on the door, to which Callie got up and answered.

"Who is it babe?" Arizona called out, not taking her eyes off of the TV, "Ha! My guy won", she gloated as Callie returned to the living room with a large parcel.

"This just came for you" Callie said and placed it on the table in front of them.

Arizona opened the box, it contained a small envelope, a bigger, thicker manilla envelope and something that was wrapped in tissue paper. Opening the smaller envelope she read:

-Dr. Robbins, whenever you are ready, I would be delighted to

offer you the opportunity to complete your recovery as

the Head of Paediatric Surgery at Seattle Grace Mercy West

Hospital. It would be an honour to have you-

Richard Webber

The manilla envelope contained a contract and as Arizona removed the tissue paper, she revealed a SGMW lab coat, that had been embroidered:

Dr. Arizona Robbins M.D

**Thoughts?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Two updates in one night – I'm nice like that. Just a short one this time.**

"So I hear the Chief has offered blonde head of peds" Mark said to Callie as they sat in the bar after a particularly gruelling shift. All Callie wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed but she had promised Mark and had already bailed on him a couple of times already to be with Arizona. She perked up at the mention of her girlfriend though.

"Yeah" she responded, smiling happily.

"So when does she start?"

"Oh she hasn't said yes yet"

"But she's going to right?"

"I hope so, we haven't really talked about it"

"Well at least tell me that you've talked about her career plans in general? I mean you're her girlfriend but from what you've told me, she's basically out here on an extended vacation so Altman can help her with her recovery right? If she doesn't take the job here, then won't she be leaving soon?"

"I would hardly call rehab a vacation Mark", Callie chastised, choosing to ignore Mark other comments, mainly because she was mentally kicking herself for being so stupid. How had this never come up before? Callie had always known that Arizona was only around because of Teddy but she had never really considered that she might leave.

* * *

The next day Callie had just come out of surgery when she spotted Teddy writing on the surgical board, walking over she said, "hey, have you got time for a cup of coffee?"

"Sure, cafeteria or The Press?" deciding she had time, they made their way over to The Press.

Once they had found a table and received their drinks, Callie said, "can I ask you something about Arizona?"

"Uh I guess", Teddy responded looking slightly wary.

"When she first came to Seattle, how long was she planning to stay for?"

"Until her rehab was over"

"But she could have done her rehab anywhere"

"But I'm not anywhere, I'm in Seattle" Teddy responded as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. "It was a bitter pill for her to swallow but even she knew she couldn't do it alone, it's not just the physical recovery but the mental one too, although I must say, you seem to have helped her on that score more that I ever could". The answer caused Callie to smile. "So she had three choices..." Teddy continued "... she could go to her parents in San Diego but as much as she loves them, I don't think she could go back to being around her parents 24-7. Then it was either Amelia or me and I think we all agreed that it would be better for her to come here".

As silence engulfed them, Teddy asked "you have discussed this with Arizona right, how she was only here temporarily and how that might affect your relationship?"

Callie didn't answer, she was getting tired of people asking her that question. Instead she asked another question, "what was the plan after rehab, back to Hopkins, did they hold her job for her?"

"They have said she can have the job back whenever she wants it but honestly, I don't think she'll ever go back to Hopkins, too many bad memories now".

"So if she isn't going back to Hopkins and she's got a job offer here..."

"I know what you're asking and the honest answer is I don't know. What you have to remember is that before you came along she was refusing to acknowledge that she was even a doctor any more and then all of a sudden she back in a hospital, back in surgery. I think she just needs a little time to straighten things out in her head. Besides, the job offer from L.A. really threw a spanner in the works".

Callie's head snapped up at Teddy's last comment, "excuse me?", she spluttered.

"Oh. She didn't mention that huh?" Teddy asked meekly. Arizona was going to kill her.

"What job offer Teddy?" Callie asked sternly.

"The hospital Amelia works at heard that she was potentially on the market again so to speak and offered her a job, although I've no idea how they found out. Amelia is insisting she didn't tell them".

"I have an idea" Callie said mutinously. She stood up abruptly and threw some money down on the table. "Thanks for the chat, it's been enlightening" and with that Callie stormed out the coffee shop. She pulled her phone out on the way back to the hospital and dialled, the recipient answering on the third ring.

"Addison, are you trying to hurt me?"

"What?"

"I told you that the chief has offered Arizona a job here and then the next day she gets a job offer from the hospital you work at! Coincidence?" Callie's voices was dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah, about that Call"

"Why did you do it Addison?" Callie was raging.

"Listen, she's the best and when the best becomes available I owe it to this hospital to at least inform them that the best is available. And Arizona deserves to have options..."

"Don't you dare tell me what Arizona deserves Addison, you don't even know her!" Callie stormed.

"Callie..."

"I just don't understand why you would have done this Addison so I'm just going to go before I say something I regret" and with that she hung up the phone and marched back into the hospital. She was in a foul mood and the last person she needed to see was Arizona, which was a pity considering she had just come into view, clearly on her way to a PT session.

"Calliope!"

Callie just keep on walking, pretending to not hear or that by some miracle there might be another Calliope in the hospital. Fate was against her though as Arizona caught up with her as she waited for the elevator.

"Hey! Didn't you hear me calling you?" Arizona asked happily, clearly oblivious to Callie's mood. She soon became aware when she reached out to touch Callie on the arm and the Latina pulled back as if she had been scalded. "What's wrong? Did something happen?", Arizona asked, the look of concern on her face doing nothing to help how Callie was feeling.

"What are we Arizona?"

"What?" Arizona responded, clearly bemused.

"What. Are. We?"

"You're my girlfriend silly" Arizona laughed, realising too late that laughing in this situation was a very bad idea.

"Oh that's funny, because I thought that people who were in a relationship told each other important things in each other's lives, like being back on the market for example".

Now Arizona was really confused, "Do you think I cheated on you or something? Because I haven't, I would never..."

"L.A. Arizona" Callie cut in harshly.

"But I..."

"No, just forget about it. I was obviously just somebody that you could use to boost your ego whilst you recovered and then you would sweep out of here. Good luck in L.A. or Hopkins, or wherever the hell you end up". Callie stepped into the elevator, putting her hand up when Arizona went to follow her, "I'm done with this, we're done".

The elevator door closed, leaving Arizona flabbergasted in the middle of the auditorium. Picking up her phone, she dialled shakily as she sobbed into the phone, "Teddy, I need you".

As Callie stepped off the elevator she literally walked straight into the chief, too angry and upset to watch were she was going.

"Dr. Torres!" Webber said happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet, he looked positively gleeful, "I bet you're happy with the news?"

"News sir?" Callie asked distractedly, she wanted to lock herself up in the nearest on call-room and cry but she could hardly blow off the chief of surgery.

"You're in a relationship with Dr. Robbins right? She's just accepted the offer to become Head of Paediatric surgery here!".

_Crap_

**Please don't hate me...**


	11. Chapter 11

**It's another short one I'm afraid. I don't get a lot of time to write during the week was with work etc. Still, I wanted to get this one out.**

**I know I say this every time but thanks for all the reviews, they encourage me greatly and I loved what you had to say about Chapter Ten! Especially Pricilla Grey's comment, I laughed when I read your C9 review, knowing what was coming in C10!**

**So we pick up right were the last chapter left off and this all takes place within a thirty minute time frame. **

Arizona was left bereft in the middle of the hospital auditorium, leaning against the wall as she tried to control the sobs that threatened to overcome her. She needed to get out of here before she drew even more attention to herself, not that there was many people who hadn't noticed Callie's rage filled ending of the relationship.

"Arizona?" came a voice, "Are you hurt? Let me page Callie".

Arizona looked up to find Mark walking quickly over to her, she had never heard him address her by her actual name and she had actually begun to wonder if the only facial expressions he knew were the perverted ones. She knew she must look bad for Mark Sloan to look concerned.

"Please don't do that", she whispered as she held back another sob, "Teddy is coming".

"Torres would want to be here for you", Mark coaxed.

"Well considering she has just very loudly and publicly dumped me, I don't think she wants to be anywhere near me" Arizona whimpered.

Mark gave her a long stare before letting out a breath, "Why don't you at least let me take you to my office, I'll let Teddy know where you are and then she can take you home or something". Spotting that Arizona was about to decline he persisted "come on Blondie, I'm not as bad as you think I am and do you really want to stay here like this?"

Arizona took it for what it was, an act of kindness. Following Mark to his office he made her a cup of coffee, knelt down in front of her and asked, "What do you need?".

* * *

On the other side of the hospital, Callie was stood ashen faced in front of the Chief, "She did what?" she asked.

"She came by about an a hour ago and accepted the position, having Dr. Robbins on staff will reflect very nicely on this hospital", Webber finished happily. "Is everything alright Torres? You don't look so good"

Callie looked at the Chief, opening and closing her mouth a few times, her brain running a hundred miles an hour. She couldn't process her thoughts quickly enough, especially when words like idiot and moron kept invading her brain, she had never had the urge to kick herself quite as much as she did right in this moment.

"I... err... I need.. have to find... excuse me Chief", Callie spluttered out before racing to the stairs, not bothering to wait for the elevator. She ran down the stairs as quickly as she could not bothering to stop as she trampled over an intern in the process. Throwing open the door that led out to the main entrance found that Arizona was no longer there.

"Dammit! Okay think Callie", she said to herself none too quietly, causing passer-bys to stare at her as she cursed rapidly in Spanish. Remembering that Arizona looked as though she was on her way to PT, she barrelled off in the direction of that department.

"Woah Dr. Torres, where's the fire?", David asked as Callie barged in, looking thoroughly out of breath.

"Arizona", Callie breathed, clutching at a stitch on her side, "Is she here? Does she have a session?".

"She was supposed to have one yeah but one of the surgeons called down. Said Arizona was a friend and that she wouldn't be able to make it because she isn't feeling well"

"Was it Teddy? Dr. Altman I mean, or maybe Dr. Amelia Shepherd?", Callie asked, already half way out the door.

"No it was a guy, Dr. Sloan"

Callie whipped round, "Mark?"

"That's the guy. Listen will you tell her I hope she feels better soon? Dr. Torres?" David looked up from the prosthetic he was working on to find that Callie had disappeared.

Mark had just hung up the phone to the PT department when Teddy came ploughing in.

* * *

"Arizona, sweetie are you okay?" Teddy asked, sitting down on the couch next to her best-friend and sweeping her into a hug.

"I don't understand what happened" Arizona muffled into Teddy's now tear stained scrubs, "she was mad at me for not telling her about L.A, she didn't even give me a chance to tell her that I'm staying here". "Staying here with her", she added with a cry.

"Let me take you home"

Mark, who had remained silent up until this point stood up quickly, he had just spotted Callie making a beeline for his office.

"Uh, Callie is about to come through this door in about thirty seconds" he said, torn between a rock and a hard place.

"Please", Arizona begged, looking at both Mark and Teddy "I can't see her, I don't want to see her".

Taking that as his cue, Mark made his way out of the office and closed the door behind him, turning back around to come face to face with Callie, anguish written all over her face.

Before she could say anything, he cut her off, "What the hell Torres, blondie is in there saying that you binned her off. What did she do exactly that was so bad that caused you to publicly humiliate her like that? I found her crying in the middle of the auditorium"

"She didn't do anything, I am a huge idiot. I just need to speak to her, to apologise", Callie said trying to manoeuvre Mark out the way, he wasn't budging though.

"What happened?" Mark said, softening slightly at the desperation in his friend's eyes.

Callie closed her eyes and pinched her nose, "I found out that she had a job offer from another hospital and flipped out over it, called her out for not telling me and then proceeded to tell her that she was just using me to boost her ego whilst she was in recovery. All the while not letting her get a word in edgeways to explain herself, this was all done very publicly, not to mention me telling her that I was done with our relationship". Callie winced as she said all of this, "the best part was when the Chief caught up with me not five minutes later, practically bobbing up and down with excitement because Arizona had just accepted the position here".

"Jesus Callie!", Mark exclaimed, his temper flaring once more, "you can be so hot headed sometimes and I know I'm hardly one to judge but still..."

"Believe me Mark, nobody is feeling as stupid as I am right now, please just let me in"

"No Call I'm sorry, maybe you should just give her a little time. Altman is with her so she'll be looked after".

"What?" Callie whined, she knew how badly she had messed up but Mark was her best-friend, he was supposed to be on her side.

"Believe me Call, I'm doing this more for you than I am for her" and with that he walked back into his office, shutting the door in Callie's face.

Slowly making her way back up to the orthopaedic ward, she moved towards her office, she only had an hour left of her shift and had no intention of emerging from her office until that time.

"Dr. Torres!"

Callie turned around, hoping the morose look on her face would scare the nurse off, "not now Nate, not unless it's really important".

"I just wanted to give you this", the nurse responded, handing Callie a note, "A Dr. Robbins left it for you about an hour ago".

"Thanks" she mumbled before locking herself in her office, sitting down as she opened the note and read:

-Hey there pretty lady :)

I have some news I think you'll like.

Dinner at my place tonight? (Just to be clear, when I say dinner,

I mean me ordering take-out, it's the thought that counts right?)

Arizona xxx -

P.S. I think you should stay the night. I think tonight is our night. I hope you do too.

**Okay so you've seen devastated Arizona, tune in next time for extremely pissed Arizona and some serious grovelling from Callie. **


	12. Chapter 12

**As previously stated, I have no medical knowledge at all so anything I do write is borrowed from Grey's episodes. I've also nabbed a couple Calzona lines for this chapter too. I own none of it.**

**Loved your responses to the last chapter so thank you...**

**Finally, there is a very good chance that the next update won't come until the 16th November at the earliest as I'm going to be away with work but after that I'm as free as a bird so updates will come much more frequently. **

"I just want to see her for a minute", Callie pleaded

"Well she doesn't want to see you"

"If I could just explain"

"I think she understands plenty"

"Amelia..."

"What exactly don't you understand when I say no? Just back the hell off and leave her be. You aren't welcome here" and with that Amelia shut the door in Callie's face.

Amelia turned and walked back into the kitchen where Arizona was making pancakes for them both. Without looking up she asked, "Callie again?"

"Yeah. You want to talk about this?"

"No"

"Your living room looks like a gift shop Arizona and this is the third time this week that I've had to turn her away. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally on your side, I'm just glad she showed her true colours now before things got more serious", Amelia reasoned.

"Your not helping Amelia" Arizona said, banging the plates down on the counter a little too forcefully.

"I'm just saying..."

"Well don't", Arizona snapped, "listen can we just talk about something else?" she asked as they made their way into the living room, both trying to find somewhere to sit. Amelia hadn't been exaggerating, the room was full of flowers, various cuddly toys, doughnuts and so on. Amelia had found the latest delivery of a Cindy Crawford poster a little odd but decided not to ask any questions as Arizona had looked as though she was close to tears when she opened it.

* * *

Two days later Arizona started her first shift as Head of Paediatric Surgery at SGMW, she had come in with Amelia who was performing her surgery today. Amelia squeezed Arizona's hand and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, "go be a rock star" she said before they went their separate ways.

After handling paperwork with human resources and getting her badge, she made her way over the paediatric wing and was surprised to find so many interns and junior residents waiting for her. She really thought the novelty would have worn off when she did the surgery on Wallace Anderson – apparently not. Making her way over to them she said, "you know I'm flattered but you know you can't all be on my service right?". Letting out an exasperated breath as nobody left voluntarily she said, "okay fine, you can round with me but then I'll choose one resident and one intern, that's it".

Before starting rounds, Arizona popped her head into Wallace Anderson's room were she found Wallace waiting eagerly with his lab coat on, his mother reading in the chair. Although it was officially Arizona's first day, she had remained on the Anderson case since his surgery. He was doing very well, his last set of lab results had been particularly pleasing but they will still looking for a longer-term solution to his condition. As a reward for doing so well she had promised him that he could accompany her on rounds.

"You ready Dr. Wallace?" Arizona asked, laughing as Wallace scuttled excitedly out of the bed and over to her side.

Moving into the next room, she indicted that the other doctors should follow her.

"Dr. Avery, please present"

"Okay, Hilary Boyd, seven years old, fell off the roof of her tree house, fifty-two acute fractures were diagnosed when she was admitted last night. An intricate and extremely challenging ORIF surgery was performed by Dr. Chung and Dr. Hunt this morning before rounds"

"Thank you Avery, can anyone tell me the proper dosage of ceftriaxone in a pediartic patient?" Arizona asked, looking at the residents expectantly whilst remaining silently thankful that the first ortho case she was faced with was with Dr. Chung, rather than a certain other orthopaedic surgeon.

"Fifteen milligrams per kilogram per day", Yang responded promptly.

"Correct. And Dr. Wallace can you tell me the proper dosage for this patient if she was forty-two kilograms?"

Wallace took a moment to scribble on his clip board before confidently responding, "2.1 milligrams per day, if you carry the decimal".

"Excellent Dr. Wallace. Next course of treatment Avery?"

"Depending on how she fares today, Dr. Chung will go back in to repair her subtrochanteric fracture tomorrow".

"Okay, before we move on, Mr. and Mrs. Boyd, do you have any questions?", receiving a negative in response, Arizona repeated her question to Hillary directly.

"Why do you walk funny?" the young girl asked before being chastised by her parents for being rude.

"It's okay, curiosity it natural. The answer Hilary is that I hurt it when I wrestled with a lion in Africa", Arizona responded promptly before sweeping her way out if the room and into the next, leaving an awestruck Hilary and her amused parents behind.

"Dr. Grey, your turn to present"

"Tyler Lee, nine years old, came in with renal colic three days ago that has not resolved. We are going to be performing shockwave therapy today to break up the stones in his urethra so they can pass."

"Nope" Arizona responded perkily as though hiding a secret, she threw in a wink at Tyler for good measure.

"Nope?" Meredith repeated questioningly.

"Nope indeed. Dr. Karev, give me a reason why we won't be performing the surgery based on his latest set of lab results"

"Because there is no blood in the patient's urine this morning" Alex answered.

"Bingo!"

Meredith wasn't letting it go that easily however, "well yeah but we should do it just in case right?"

"You want to do a surgical procedure on a nine year old when it's no longer indicated?"

"Dr. Robbins, what happened to your leg?", Tyler interrupted.

"The lost boys had been kidnapped by Captain Hook and the rest of his pirates, I hurt my leg when I rescued them. Dr. Grey, why don't you tell Tyler and his mother the good news" Arizona said as she again made her exit and on to the next patient.

* * *

"Where the hell are all the interns and residents?" Callie asked irritably as she slammed a file down on the desk in the ER. She had been called in three hours before her shift was due to start because scaffolding had collapsed at building site, injuring at least a dozen people. It was havoc in the ER but they seemed to be running a skeleton staff.

"Robbins starts today, they have all jumped on her morning rounds to try and get on her service" Derek responded, looking equally as frazzled, "even Yang is up there, someone should really tell her you have to like kids" he laughed.

Callie hadn't been listening, "It's Dr. Robbins first day today?" she asked, trying to look nonchalant.

"Yeah, listen I have to go, I have a surgery in half an hour, although I won't be lead surgeon. That particular pleasure goes to my baby sister". He tried to look pleased for Amelia but it really came out as more of a grimace.

As Callie watched Derek disappear, she thought she might try and find an excuse to visit the paediatric wing sooner rather than later. An hour later she had her opportunity, she tried not to look too pleased when a twelve year old was brought in with appendicitis. She insisted on taking him up to the wing herself, barking at an intern who questioned why she was getting involved in a case that wasn't ortho. Her luck was out though, despite taking an overly long time to have the patient admitted she didn't even catch a glimpse of her target. Cursing, she left the department and made her way to her next surgery, stopping abruptly when she saw Arizona at the desk near the surgical board, engrossed in a file. Quickly, she made her way over to the blonde only to be cut off by Teddy.

"Turn around Callie". It wasn't a question, it was an order. "Walk away"

"From what?" Callie asked innocently

"From my very best-friend in the whole world"

"But I wasn't..."

"Yes. Yes you were". Again, not a question, just a fact. Teddy sighed at the look of defeat on Callie's face, running a hand through her hair she pulled the Latina into an empty exam room.

"Look, come on, you can't do this. You don't have the right. Not any more".

"I just want to know if she's okay" Callie said.

"Let me tell you something about Arizona. She has two stages of breakup, devastated and pissed, then she moves on. Any chance you had of repairing this thing was when she was devastated but she's moved on from that and now she's just pissed. Trust me when I say you don't stand a chance when she's pissed so just move on and let her do the same".

"You and Amelia have been acting like her guard dogs for a week Teddy!" Callie hissed. "How was I supposed to get anywhere near devestated Arizona' with the two of you around?!"

"Yeah and I will keep doing it!" Teddy retaliated, "in case you had forgotten Callie, we wouldn't need to look out for her if you hadn't messed up so badly in the first place. I will not apologise for protecting my best-friend and I sure as hell won't let you blame me or Amelia for your screw ups". With that, Teddy turned on her heal and left the examination room, slamming the door behind her.

"I am getting so sick of people slamming doors in my face", Callie muttered to herself.

* * *

Entering the cafeteria later that day, Callie grabbed a pasta salad and made her way over the a table in the corner of the room, she really didin't want company today. Well she wanted Arizona's company but it would appear that Arizona didn't want Callie's. As she picked at her food her mood was further depressed when she overheard the conversation of a group of interns at the next table as they chatted away animatedly.

"Hardcore"

"Amazing"

"She told my patient that she caught her leg in a booby trap whilst hunting for treasure in Egypt"

"She told mine that she hurt it when her boat was capsized by a sea monster"

"Did you hear she's doing a fundoplication later on?"

"Do you think I can get on her service?"

Hearing enough to know they were talking about Arizona, Callie abandoned her food, left the cafeteria and headed up to her office to hide away from the world. She hadn't been hiding long when Mark found her, "can I come in?" he asked, lingering hesitantly at the doorway. Callie had been avoiding him since the day that shall not be named.

"You sure you want to be friends with me?" Callie spit out.

"Self-pity doesn't suit you Torres"

Callie's eyes snapped up to Mark's face, the concern on his face making her anger with him slip away. "You're right, it doesn't" she sighed covering her eyes with her hands before admitting, "I miss her Mark, like I really miss her".

"Then fight for her"

"I've been trying!"

"Then you need to up your game! Woo her"

Callie couldn't help but laugh, "Woo her? Seriously? You may be right but when have you ever 'wooed' anyone in your life?" she asked with a smirk.

"I don't need to woo, women flock to me", he stated matter-of-factly.

Callie couldn't deny that it was true but Mark's ego didn't needed boosting any further.

"Okay, what am I supposed to do to woo her them oh exulted one" Callie asked with sarcasm.

"Flowers, chocolates, that sort of thing" Mark replied as though it obvious.

"Seriously that's you pearl of wisdom? If that was going to work, Arizona would be 'flocking' to me right now the amount of stuff I have sent her.

Mark looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "I knew there was something weird about her when she turned me down in Joe's that night". With that he stood up and patted Callie on the shoulder, "good luck with that" he said before leaving.

Mark had barely been gone a minute when he re-entered to room, "I may not have any ideas on how you're going to talk and/or buy your way out of this but I do have one thing that can help" he offered.

"I'm listening" Callie replied albeit warily.

"I have a surgery in twenty minutes with both Altman and Amelia Shepherd. Robbins will be unguarded for at least six hours". Mark had barely finished his sentence before Callie whizzed passed him.

As she bolted up to the paediatric wing she found Arizona straight away at the nurses station handing out some patient orders. Moving towards her she gently cupped her elbow, not wanting to make another scene, "I just want to speak to you" she whispered but took an involuntary step back at the anger that flashed across her eyes.

Instead, it was Arizona that grabbed Callie by the elbow and frogmarched her into the nearest on-call room. Callie didn't think the timing was appropriate to advise Arizona of what the on-call rooms were usually used for.

Arizona fixed a steely glare at Callie, "Listen to me and try to hear what I am saying to you. This is not a ploy. I'm not playing hard to get, I don't want to see you so just stop. Stop with the flowers, stop with the doughnuts, stop with the gifts. You had your chance and you messed up and now we are done".

"Arizona, I just want a chance to explain"

"I will let you explain when you tell me why I should give you a reason to explain when you afforded me no such privilege? Instead of coming to me and discussing this with me you involve my best-friend, putting her in a horrible situation. You then publicly humiliate me in front of half the hospital, you shout and you yell and you don't let me explain that the only reason I didn't tell you about L.A. was because A. I was never going to take it and B. I had already decided to stay in Seattle. Kinda makes L.A. a moot point don't you think? You insulted me beyond measure when you suggested that I am the type of person to use people for my own gain before moving on and leaving the wreckage behind, You ended it with me Callie, not the other way around so no, you do not get a chance to explain. Now it's a big hospital, there are plenty of places to hide for the next few years which I'm perfectly happy to do, so why don't you just do the same?".

Arizona turned to leave before adding, "I do have one thing to thank you for though" she added bitterly, "I was worried about being gossiped about for being the doctor who had a plane crash and lost her leg. Instead now I'm the doctor who was dumped in the middle of the hospital" and with that she whipped out of the room and out of sight.

* * *

The next morning Arizona entered the guest bedroom of her house as she watched Amelia pack her things, she was heading back to L.A. that afternoon. Teddy was sat on the bed whilst reading a medical journal and chatting aimlessly with Amelia, both Arizona and Teddy were going to miss having her around.

"You all set?" Arizona asked as she plonked herself on the bed next to Teddy.

"I think so" Amelia replied, her gaze sweeping the room for any belongings she might have missed. Noticing that Arizona was picking at the duvet, a nervous habit of hers, Amelia said, "you know I could stay a little longer but it's Callie you miss, not me". Teddy's eyes immediately stopped moving on the page she was reading but didn't say a word.

"Amelia..." Arizona warned, her temper rising.

"Don't Amelia me and just listen. Teddy and I will be here for you always just like you are here for us but I wouldn't be your friend if I didn't speak my mind. Now I don't know her at all but answer me this, what if she really is sorry? What if she really is the wonderful person you originally thought she was? Isn't that worth a risk?"

Arizona continued to pick at the duvet, when she realised that her silence wasn't going to stop Amelia, she looked to Teddy for support.

"Don't look at me, I haven't seen you that happy with anyone, no offence Amelia or that upset since Carly left you, again no offence Amelia" Teddy responded. "We should get going" Teddy directed to Amelia, "I'll have to take you to the airport now so I can be back for my shift".

Amelia just nodded and picked up her bag before sweeping Arizona into a one armed hug, "at least think about what I said?" she asked.

* * *

That evening Callie found herself in surgery with Teddy. They didn't talk unless it was related to the case but Callie thought that Teddy looked as though she was fighting some sort of internal battle with herself, especially as she kept throwing glances at the Latina.

Later as they were both scrubbing out, Teddy opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally saying, "tell her something about yourself that will bring you on a level playing field again".

"Pardon me?"

"I don't know why I'm saying this to you and so help me God if you hurt her again..." Teddy threatened, "just tell her something that will make up for the hurt and embarrassment".

"By embarrassing myself in front of her?" Callie questioned, the cynical side of her wondering if Teddy was just out for revenge.

Teddy sighed, "by showing her a part of you that you don't show to anyone else. Something you keep to yourself because of the hurt and embarrassment it causes you. Do that and you might still have a shot" and with that, Teddy left Callie to stew in her own thoughts.

* * *

At the end of her shift Callie was in the attendings lounge changing out of her scrubs, still mulling over Teddy's words. All thoughts flew from her mind however when she saw a familiar blonde figure ahead of her, stepping into the elevator. Running, she slipped into the elevator before it closed and found that they were alone inside of it.

"I have insecurities", Callie blurted out.

Arizona looked at Callie but didn't say a word.

"You know, I used to walk tall around here. I used to walk tall. Then, came George, he took off at least an inch" Callie laughed bitterly. "Then Erica went and left me, that shaved off a few more. I got shorter. All that humiliation it makes you shorter, it gives you insecurities about yourself. Or at least it gives me insecurities about myself. So when I heard that you might not be staying I panicked. I panicked because I thought I was going to lose you and I... I don't even know what we are yet but I knew I wasn't ready for it to end. I'm still not ready for it to end. So instead of coming and speaking to you about it, I let my insecurities take over, I let myself think that you wouldn't want to stay here with me that you would want to leave. Then this morphed into anger, anger at Teddy for being the messenger, anger at Addison for telling her Chief you were available and anger at you for not telling me yourself and not wanting to stay. I have insecurities because one more personal disaster will cut me off at the knees", Callie winced at the inappropriate reference to losing limbs but as Arizona showed no reaction, she continued.

"So there you have it, I have faults and one of them may have messed this up but you know what? I'm not perfect and neither are you. You want to talk about faults? How about not being able to forgive? At some point you're going to have to forgive me and it may as well be now because I think that you and I can have something special and you think we can have something special too"

Callie finished her speech, desperately hoping her words had gotten through to the blonde who had remained mute the whole time, barely looking at her as she determinedly faced the elevator door as though willing it open so she could make her escape. Now that Callie had finished, Arizona turned to fully face the Latina.

"All I am asking for is one more chance", Callie said with earnest.

"Even though I might cut you off at the knees?" Arizona questioned softly, her expression unreadable.

"Even though you might cut me off at the knees", Callie confirmed.

"I didn't stay here for you", came Arizona's only response.

Callie visibility slumped as Arizona's words hit her, defeat hitting her full on, knocking the wind right out of her. So when Arizona swiftly closed the space between them and pulled Callie into a breathless kiss she didn't respond right away, too stunned by the blonde's mixed signals.

Arizona pulled out of the kiss and took a small step back, taking a tanned hand in her own before saying, "I didn't stay here for you. But you are sure as hell a pretty big bonus".

And with that, Arizona pulled Callie from the elevator and swiftly out of the hospital.

**So... what do you think?**


	13. Chapter 13

**NOTE THE RATING CHANGE! If reading about sexy times is not your thing then this chapter ain't for you!**

**So I'm back :) My work thing is over now so I can get back to more regular updates. Who knew writing could become so addictive eh? I've missed it this week! **

**Thanks so much for all the reviews, they are always very much appreciated. Hope you like this chapter. **

Callie didn't dare speak as she let Arizona lead them out of the hospital to the blonde's car. She had spent the last week thinking of all the different ways she could try and get back in Arizona's good graces that she hadn't given much thought to what she would say or do beyond that. The mixed signals from Arizona weren't helping much either. Only yesterday Callie had been completely despondent to the idea ever having another chance with Arizona after she had stood there on the wrong end of a verbal whip-lashing only to be kissed in an elevator twenty four hours later. Even now Arizona was holding her hand which was definitely a good thing but she still didn't look too happy which was definitely a bad thing. So hedging her bets, Callie decided that silence was the best option, and silent they remained all the way back to Arizona's place.

Once they were inside Arizona went straight into the the living room, letting out a huff in Callie's direction when she realised that there was nowhere to sit due to all of the gifts. Instead, she walked back out and into her bedroom. Callie could have sworn she had heard the blonde grumble something about 'not being able to be bought off' so again chose to remain silent.

As Arizona still hadn't said anything, Callie remained in the doorway of the living room looking sheepishly at what used to resemble Arizona's living room. It wasn't until Arizona shouted, "are you coming or what?" that Callie followed her into the bedroom.

"I think we should talk" Arizona stated firmly whilst unceremoniously removing her prosthesis and chucking it to the side disdainfully. "Lack of communication got us in this mess in the first place and I for one don't want that to happen again. Sit with me?".

A still mute Callie sat on the bed, legs crossed. It felt oddly like the calm before the storm.

"I'm sorry". Arizona said softly.

Callie's forehead wrinkled in confusion and surprise. Definitely not what she had been expecting.

"What are you apologising for? It's me that was the stupid one" she mumbled.

"Yes you were stupid. But I think I should take my share of the blame too. Had I talked to you about what my plans were sooner then maybe you wouldn't have let your insecurities get the better of you. So I'm sorry I didn't involve you like someone who is in a relationship should have".

"I'm sorry too" Callie said, "I shouldn't have been so hotheaded and jumped to conclusions and I definitely should have talked to you about how I was feeling first. I just felt so stupid though, people just couldn't believe that we hadn't talked about your plans beyond your recovery and I honestly hadn't even thought about it. Not that I'm defending the way I acted of course" she added hastily.

"I think we should just agree that we both could have handled things a little better and try and learn from it" Arizona said.

"Can I ask you something?" Callie asked tentatively.

"Of course"

"In the elevator. What did you mean when you said you didn't stay here for me?"

Arizona sighed, carefully considering her choice of words before responding, "the thing is Callie, it's been a long time, even when I've been in a relationship, that I've ever considered someone else whilst making decisions that affect my life, maybe that's been selfish of me. The point is that I thought that this decision affected me and me alone, so I made it based on that. I couldn't make a decision about where to take a job that will affect my whole career, or the place continue with my rehab or build a life for myself based on anything other than my own needs. We've been in this thing for all of five minutes so I just couldn't realistically bring myself to factor you into my decision. I had to make that choice for me and for nobody else. It's not the most romantic thing I'll ever say to you but it's the most honest, and I always want to be truthful with you".

"I guess I can understand that" Callie said.

"That doesn't mean that I didn't think of you at all" Arizona moved to assure the Latina. "When I thought about reasons to stay, you and Teddy were definitely on my pro list".

"Please tell me this was a mental list" Callie smirked.

"Nope. I'm very type A, I had a full A4 sheet of paper containing pros and cons"

"You say type A, I say dork"

"But I'm cute which helps overlook the dorkiness"

"Modest too".

"So we're okay?"

Callie grinned before placing a soft kiss on Arizona's lips, "we're better than okay".

Sighing into Callie's embrace, Arizona felt calm for the first time in days, "can we fight over something trivial next time like what wine goes best with our food or what movie to see?"

"Fine with me". Callie wrapped strong arms around Arizona's back and buried her face into the nook between her neck and shoulders, taking in the smell of coconut lotion she smiled and said in a small voice, "would it be really needy to say that I missed you?"

"I missed you too" Arizona said whilst stifling a yawn.

"Say it like you mean why don't you?!" Callie laughed.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so tired" Arizona said whilst subconsciously rubbing her stump. "I was in surgery for six hours today. That beats my previous best of four and a half hours".

Clearly from the look of shining anticipation on Arizona's face this was something Callie was supposed to be proud of but she couldn't help but be concerned, "it's not a competition Arizona, you shouldn't push yourself".

"Do you have to be somewhere tonight or do you want to stay and watch a movie or something? I could get take out and we could eat it in bed seen as my living room is out of commission." Arizona asked completely ignoring Callie's comments.

Quite happy to spend as much time with the blonde as possible, Callie readily agreed before going to find the take-out menu in the kitchen. "So what are we going for this evening?" Callie asked as she flicked through the various menus as she re-entered the bedroom. When she received no response she looked up to find Arizona fast asleep in the middle of the bed, clothes still on. Looking at her for a moment Callie couldn't help but feel hopeful for the first time in such a while, she didn't know what this was or where it was going but she couldn't wait to find out. So with no inclination to wake the blonde, she gently laid a blanket over her before turning out the light and leaving the bedroom.

* * *

A few hours later Arizona awoke with a start. Her nightmares hadn't been been so bad recently but she couldn't seem to shake the one where the plane was falling, she would always wake up just as it crashed. Not pleasant but she would take those nightmares over the one where she would hear one of her dead colleagues being eaten by wolves, that one was the worst. She cursed herself for thinking about that right now as the horrible images burned across her mind.

Shaking the feeling off as best she could, she finally took note of her surroundings. Smiling when she realised that Callie had given her a blanket she noticed that the Latina's jacket and shoes were still near the doorway. Glad that she hadn't left, Arizona got up to find her. Not finding her in the living room or kitchen, she noticed that the guest bedroom door was slightly ajar. Slowly peeking her head through she saw the most beautiful sight, Callie wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt of Arizona's and a pair of shorts. toned caramel legs pushing the duvet out the way with dark glossy hair sprawled all over a pillow.

Noticing that Callie was stirring, Arizona made her way further into the room, stopping near the edge of the bed, leaning against her crutches. "You stayed" she said with soft smile.

Raising herself up onto her elbows, Callie responded, "I hope that's okay? We came in your car so mine is still at hospital". She knew she could have taken a cab but she just didn't want to leave.

"It's more than okay. Why are you in here though? You've spent the night in my bed before".

"Just the once at your invitation. I didn't want to assume that it was okay to do it again".

Touched by the sweetness and sincerity in Callie's tone, Arizona said "well consider it an open invitation but do you think maybe I could stay with you tonight?".

Callie's mega watt smile and flinging back of the duvet was answer enough.

Arizona made no attempt to move. The remnants of her still lingering nightmares and Callie's attire was proving to be an interesting concoction inside her head. "I had a nightmare", the blonde said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"What can I do?" Callie asked softly.

Her decision made, Arizona slowly removed her shirt and bra, tossing them gently to the side. The silence in the room meaning that Callie's soft intake of breath had not gone unnoticed. "I want to feel good again" the blonde said, her eyes pleading with Callie to understand.

The room was dark with only rays from the moon illuminating Arizona's silhouette, bare chest and all. Taking in the expanse of creamy skin, a toned stomach and the perfect swell of breasts, Callie found the words caught in her throat. "You're beautiful" she finally managed to choke out.

Sitting down on the bed, Arizona removed the rest of her clothing. Fully naked she moved alongside Callie, her hand draped consciously over her residual limb, insecurities not yet fully conquered.

Adjusting their position so that Arizona was now on her back with Callie now leaning slightly over her, the Latina reached out and stroked a thumb across Arizona's cheek before slowly moving her hand down, brushing a shoulder, then an arm, moving past her hip until eventually she gently removed the blonde's hand and cupped the end of the limb with her own tanned hand. Staring straight into blue eyes she repeated, "you're beautiful".

Arizona saw nothing but sincerity in Callie's eyes. Nodding, she reached up to pull her girlfriend down for a kiss that started out tender and caring, soft lips caressing each other slowly, both trying to pour as much emotion into the kiss as possible.

When Callie peeked her tongue out, lightly running it against Arizona's own lips, the kiss deepened. Tongues meshed and teeth grazed lips and when Arizona's hands slowly reached underneath the shirt Callie was wearing, her light caresses caused the Latina's body to hum with anticipation. Breaking the kiss for much needed oxygen, Callie pulled off the shirt and removed her underwear before looking back down at Arizona whose eyes had gone a shade darker at the sight in front of her.

Upper body strength waning, Callie carefully lowered herself on to the body below her, both women letting out moans as naked skin met naked skin. Instead of returning the the blonde's lips, Callie focused on other areas, delicately nipping at the pulse point on her neck or placing butterfly kisses along her collarbone.

Eventually she made her way down Arizona's flawless breasts, taking a pink nipple in her mouth she teased the blonde, flicking her tongue across the sensitive bud before sucking lightly. Receiving the loudest moan of pleasure yet in response, Callie grinned into the the breasts. Arizona was definitely a person who enjoyed attention on her breasts and Callie was more than happy to be of service. Taking the other breast in her hand, Callie pinched at the nipple, causing Arizona to gasp and writhe underneath her.

Gently, Callie ground against Arizona, inhaling sharply at the pleasure that was flooding her senses. Returning her focus up to the blonde's face she moved in for another kiss whilst a hand snaked in between legs.

Brushing her fingers in soft curls, Arizona moaned as strong fingers parted her slick folds. Another, louder moan escaped her mouth as a nail scraped along her clit before a finger was pushed inside of her. Tantalisingly slow, Callie continued her ministrations, pulling out and re-entering, over and over whilst her her thumb stroked at her swollen clit causing Arizona to switch between load moans and soft whisperings.

"Calliope" Arizona gasped, "I need... I..."

"Shussh. I know what you need" Callie whispered against her ear.

And with that the pace quickened, one hand pumping in and out of Arizona at a more energetic rate whilst the other hand twisted at an erect nipple. Soon Arizona could feel herself hurtling towards the edge just as Callie felt the walls around her fingers tighten.

"You can let go now baby. I'm here".

That was all Arizona needed to hear as her orgasm hit her full force from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, not one inch of her body didn't feel the warmth. Grasping on to Callie as she rode out her release, spasms of pleasure shooting through her body her final cry was drowned out by a passionate kiss.

Releasing her hold on Callie, Arizona flopped down back on the bed.

"Um. Wow" was all the blonde could muster in her post coital haze.

Placing a peck on the top of her head, Callie moved down besides Arizona and said, "well I definitely didn't expect that this morning" causing them both the laugh.

Turning her head to face Arizona, Callie asked "can I hold you until you fall asleep?".

"I'd love you too" the blonde responded. Turning so that she had her back to Callie's front, the Latina placed an arm over her side and rested her hand against Arizona's stomach.

"Calliope?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you"

Callie didn't respond, she just watched Arizona as she soon slipped off into a wonderful dreamless sleep.

**So I'm not going to lie. The thought of Lexie getting eaten by wolves was disturbing for me, regardless of the fact that she is a fictional character!**

**Thoughts on the chapter?**


	14. Chapter 14

**I am so sorry for how long it has taken to update this fic! I've had horrible writers block so this is just a short fluffy one to get me back into the swing of things.**

**Thanks for all the reviews :)**

Callie woke up the next morning and was momentarily disorientated of her whereabouts until last night's events flooded her senses. The only other time she had stayed the night at Arizona's, she had woken to an empty bed but this time she was most definitely not alone. The blonde was still asleep but had turned in the middle of the night and was now wrapped around Callie, her head resting against the brunette's shoulder with an arm flung over her stomach.

As Callie watched her girlfriend sleep, she couldn't help but think how stupid she had been and how lucky she was to have another chance with the woman in front of her. Her thoughts soon turned to last night and she felt herself getting warmer as she allowed the memory to flood her senses. The thought of their activities soon reminded Callie of the fact that they were both still naked. She chanced a glance at Arizona to check she was still sleeping soundly before carefully looking underneath the covers, grinning to herself as she took in the blonde's naked form.

"You're perving" Arizona mumbled, her voice thick with sleep.

Callie didn't even bother to deny it. "My girlfriend is hot".

Arizona peeked an eye open to find that Callie was still ogling her under the duvet. "Stop! I'll put on clothes if you don't stop staring" she blushed.

Callie immediately dropped the covers and snuggled down into the blonde's embrace whilst dropping light pecks on Arizona's lips. "No clothes" _peck _"Clothes are bad" _peck _"In fact, you should just be naked all the time" _peck._

Arizona giggled into the kisses, "I think that would scar the children if their doctor walked around naked".

Callie deepened their kiss whilst talking against Arizona lips, "Don't be silly, you aren't allowed to be naked in front of other people. Only me".

Arizona pulled away only to laugh at Callie's resultant pout and take her own peek under the duvet. "Um wow. Why exactly have I not seen you naked before?".

"I was trying to be chivalrous" Callie quipped. "I'm usually much easier than this".

"Can we do something today? I know we still have stuff to talk about but I can't help but feel like we skipped a bunch of steps. Maybe we could just go out on a nice date?"

"That sounds great, I actually have a couple of ideas but I'm working today. Can we do it tonight?"

"Sure. Does that mean you have to leave soon?" Arizona asked.

"Not until I've made us some breakfast" Callie said, giving Arizona another kiss before untangling herself from the blonde. "Do you mind if I take a shower?"

"Not at all, there are fresh towels in there. I'll go do the same".

Arizona emerged from her bedroom half an hour later to the most delicious smell wafting through the halls. Still a little sore from the excursions of her long day yesterday, her limp was more prominent than she would like and it made walking slower. When she reached the kitchen, Callie was plating up bacon and pancakes. She took a seat at the table as Callie was bringing the food to her.

Callie placed the plate and a glass of orange juice in front of Arizona and gave her a kiss, "enjoy" she said before taking a seat and tucking into her own plate.

Arizona smiled at the serenity of the situation as she took a mouthful of food, groaning in delight at the taste. "This is amazing. I think I'll keep you".

"This kitchen is amazing" Callie said as she admired the surroundings. When Arizona just shrugged and shovelled more breakfast into her mouth she continued, "which is clearly lost on you. I take it that is was other parts of the house that made you take up the lease?".

"I own the place actually" Arizona said nonchalantly.

"What? How?" Callie said confusedly.

"Well I viewed the place, made an offer, had the offer accepted..."

"Yes I get that part" Callie interrupted. "I just thought your plans for Seattle weren't set in stone until quite recently but you've lived here right from when you arrived here".

"First of all, I didn't live here straight away. I stayed with Teddy until I found a place. I bought this house because ideally I needed a bungalow and there were hardly any available to rent. The ones I did see I didn't like. Anyway, Teddy was taking me to my first prosthetic fitting when she drove past this place and I saw the for sale sign. The rest is history".

"But what if you hadn't stayed?"

"Then I would have just rented the place out or sold it".

"So what made you like the place? Other than it all being on one level" Callie asked, she really did like the house.

"I love the living room, especially the log fire. For the first few weeks I lived here I was surprised when I'd open my door every Saturday to find the stack of logs out back was always replenished. I got up extra early the next time to find out that my next door neighbour John had been chopping them for me. He said he had noticed by disability and wanted to help".

"That nice" Callie said, "do I need to be jealous of John?", she was only half joking.

"If you get jealous of seventy year old men then go for it. Jealous Callie is kind of hot" Arizona winked. "His wife Helen brings pie every week too".

"Okay so the log fire. What else?"

"The size of the master bedroom, its huge as you've seen... um the the en-suites to each room. The garden, although I'll have to think about that one when it gets to summer. I need it to be low maintenance but I still want it to be pretty. There is a hot tub out there too but I don't know if it works".

"So the kitchen wasn't on the radar at all huh?" Callie teased. She looked around again. It was big with lots of space for storage and there was a lovely window over the sink that looked into the back garden. There was enough space for a table which they were sat on now and there were patio doors that let a lot of light in. Callie thought it was perfect.

Arizona mumbled something about 'shiny appliances'.

"Do you think I could ask you to do something without me hurting your feelings?" the blonde asked.

"Sound ominous but go ahead" Callie replied warily.

"My living room looks like a gift shop. I was thinking all the stuff could maybe be put to better use on the paediatric ward? And you know... I could have my living room back."

"They're your gifts you can do whatever you like with them, I'll take them in with me today. I guess I did go a little overboard didn't I?" Callie said as she surveyed the contents of the living room.

Arizona just shrugged, not wanting to bring up their fight when they were having such a nice breakfast.

"Shoot I don't have my car though"

"Take mine and then you can come and pick me up tonight?" Arizona suggested.

"Deal" Callie said as she got up to leave. "Dress warm tonight and I'll be by about seven".

* * *

When Callie arrived back at Arizona's that night she burst out laughing at the sight of her girlfriend. "I said dress warm not dress like we're going on an Atlantic cruise".

Arizona was wearing jeans, a jacket that was so poofy she looked five times her actual weight. She also wore a matching rainbow coloured mitten, scarf and bobble hat combo to finish off the look. "Did I go a little overboard?" she asked.

"Maybe just the jacket"

Once she had changed the jacket they were away.

"What's that smell?" Arizona asked once they were in the car.

"Pizza"

"It smells yummy. Hawaiian?"

"Of course"

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see, it's only five minutes away".

Arizona didn't have long to think about their destination when Callie pulled the car over.

"The park? At night?"

Callie just smiled a knowing smile and got out of the car, indicating that Arizona should do the same. She placed a picnic blanket on the floor and put the pizza and soda to the side. They then both sat on the blanket whilst Callie put another blanket around their shoulders and passed Arizona a slice of pizza. "It should be starting any minute now, I was afraid we might miss the start".

"The start of what?" Arizona frowned as she looked around the dark and secluded park.

Callie placed a hand gently to the blonde's chin and lifted it up skyward for Arizona to witness the start of a meteor shower. The Latina grinned when her girlfriend squealed in delight. Callie knew she should be watching the shower but she just couldn't take her eyes off of Arizona as she gasped and chatted animatedly, her eyes twinkling in the moonlight.

"Beautiful" Arizona sighed.

"Beautiful" Callie agreed, having seen none of the shower so far.

Arizona noticed this and blushed, "I was talking about the meteor shower Callie!"

Callie just laughed as she tuck a stray piece of blonde her behind her girlfriend's ear, "well I was talking about you". She leaned in as cold lips met for a warm kiss. They stayed this way for a while, lips moulded and tongues danced while the shower fell above them. They then huddled together as they finished their pizza and watched the end of the shower.

"Are you ready for date night part two?" Callie asked.

"There's a part two?" Arizona said happily.

"Yep, it involves snuggling up in front of the fire in your living room roasting marshmallows while we watch a Disney film of your choice". Clearly part two was a good option Callie thought as Arizona attacked her with her lips.

* * *

"So don't be mad at me but I bought you another present" Callie said as they re-entered the house.

"Calliope" Arizona sighed, "it's sweet really but not necessary" "Besides" she huffed, "I haven't bought you so much as a flower, it kind of makes me look bad".

Callie just rolled her eyes. "This one is something useful, I promise". When Arizona just crossed her arms, she resorted to pleading, "please Arizona?". Receiving a grumbled acceptance in response, Callie grinned and went outside to the car. She returned with a what can only be described as a larger version of a child's scooter, only it had been modified with a seat and appeared to have an engine of some sorts. "Ta da!" Callie said.

"Uh thanks?" Arizona wasn't quite sure why she was being given a scooter.

Noting the confusion in Arizona's voice, Callie explained, "it's for 911 pages. If you have to get somewhere quickly you can use the scooter!". When Arizona didn't say anything for a few moments, Callie quickly began to question her decision. Maybe Arizona thought of it as some sort of glaring pointer towards her disability?

She needn't have worried though when Arizona face burst into a full dimpled smile. "The kids will love this!" she said as she inspected the scooter closely. "I love the pink streamers on the handle bars" she added.

"Yeah?" Callie asked, feeling more than a little relieved.

Arizona pulled her into a hug, "it's wonderful and very thoughtful, thank you".

"You're welcome" Callie said as she inhaled the smell of the blonde's hair.

"Can I try it out?" Arizona asked

They spent the next twenty minutes trying it out in the street, their laughter and the sound of the little bell on the scooter drawing curious glances from neighbours.

As they settled in for the night, pyjama clad in front of the fire with plenty of marshmallows to roast and Beauty and the Beast in the DVD player. Callie couldn't help but think how perfect the day had been and how special the blonde woman who was snuggled into her was. What she didn't know, what that Arizona was thinking the same thing.

**I really want Arizona to have a scooter on the show.**

**Thoughts?**


	15. Chapter 15

**So sorry for the delay in posting, this story is just proving so hard for me to write at the moment. **

**Anyway, Merry Christmas! Hope 2013 is filled with love and laughter for you all.**

Beep! Beep Beep! "Oops! Sorry Teds!"

Teddy grumbled as she picked up the charts she had dropped in her haste to get out out the way of a zooming Arizona.

"You know, I think I'm getting a handle of the controls at last" Arizona said happily. "Oops" she said as she reversed into a medicine cabinet instead of moving forwards like she had intended, "almost anyway" she added.

"I don't think the horn is enough. That thing should come with flashing lights too" Teddy said grumpily. She still hadn't gotten over Arizona ploughing her over a couple of days ago leaving a nasty looking bruise on her shin. She got the feeling that the blonde was having a little _too _much fun with her new toy. It was amazing how she seemed to ride it just fine around the kids or on the way to a 911.

Arizona just ignored her. "You ready for lunch? Your chariot awaits" she said as she scooted over to allow Teddy room to sit.

"Nuh, uh" Teddy said, "I'll walk thanks".

"Oh come on!" Arizona said as she pipped the horn again. Only giving up on trying to convince Teddy to ride in tandem with her until they had actually entered the cafeteria.

Sitting down with their food, Arizona didn't waste any time before saying, "I think something has upset Callie, or maybe something I've done or said has upset her".

"You think or you know?".

"That's the problem" the blonde huffed. "I don't remember doing or saying anything to upset her but she's definitely been acting... sullen shall we say".

"Have you asked her what's wrong?"

Arizona nodded, "she says there isn't anything wrong, maybe I should push it a little harder" she mused.

"While you're pondering on that, I have some news you're not going to like" Teddy said carefully.

"And what would that be then?"

"I've got to work Christmas Day, like _all _day. I might be able to get off around eight but I know how much you love...". Just as Teddy was about to begin her grovelling apology, she was stopped by Arizona standing up quickly.

"Teddy, you are a genius and I am an idiot. Thank you!" Arizona said as she left the cafeteria quickly.

Teddy just shook her head as she watched her best-friend leave, "so not how I thought that would go, she said to herself".

Meanwhile, Arizona made her way up to the Orthopaedic Ward to look for Callie and soon found her. Quickly pulling her into an on-call room for a little privacy.

"Calliope, I know it's super late notice and you've probably got all sorts of plans but I was just wondering if you might want to spend Christmas Day with me? No pressure or anything if you're busy". Arizona suddenly felt nervous. She had been sure when Teddy mentioned Christmas that this was the source of Callie's moodiness what with her being on bad terms with her family and all but now she was convinced that she had gotten it completely wrong and was now the needy and clingy girlfriend who wanted to spend Christmas together after such a short period of time together. _Breathe Arizona. _

The megawatt grin that pulled at Callie's lips was enough to silence Arizona's doubts. "I'd love to spend Christmas with you" she said.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask sooner. I honestly just thought that you would be spending it with Mark like you said you did last year and I didn't want to assume that you'd want to spend such a big day with me", Arizona explained.

"Mark is working. Besides, you should always assume that I want to spend time with you Arizona" Callie said as she placed a kiss on pink lips.

"Deal" Arizona said as she deepened the kiss. They were in a locked on call room after all...

* * *

"You got me a present?" Arizona asked, to describe herself as shocked would be an understatement.

"It's nothing special" Karev said gruffly and he shoved the carelessly wrapped present into the attending's hands. It had been a few days since Arizona and Callie had cleared up the who Christmas Day mishap and the hospital was now in the full swing of Christmas.

"Can I open it now?"

Karev just shrugged his shoulders and nodded. Looking around to make sure none of his fellow residents were around to witness his show of thoughtfulness.

Arizona tore open the present and looked at the item for a few seconds, blinking for a few seconds before letting out a roar of laughter.

"This is brilliant" Arizona said as she wiped away a few tears of laughter. "Although you should never try and buy your way into a surgery Karev but as it's Christmas and this gift is awesome... you can scrub in on my lung transplant today. I'm assuming what this..." she waved the gift in front of Karev's face "... is in aid of? To try and get in on a surgery?".

Alex grinned and again just shrugged before Arizona sent him on his way to prep the patient in question for surgery.

Arizona was still laughing at her present when Callie arrived on the ward to take her to lunch. The Latina couldn't help but smile as the sound of Arizona's tinkling laughter reached her ears. "Hey! Something has got you extra cheerful today" she said as she slipped an arms around her girlfriend's waist and placed a peck on her cheek.

"Look what Karev got me!" Arizona responded. When Callie just rolled her eyes at the gift and laughed some more at the blonde's exuberance she continued, "L Plates for my Scooter!".

"Well if you get this happy over something like that" Callie husked in a low voice, "I can't wait for your reaction when you see what I have got for you. Maybe I could give it to you tonight, its not your main present or anything but I'm pretty sure you'll like it".

"No thank you" Arizona said politely.

"No?" Callie clarified, she felt a little deflated. Her husky voice had never yet failed to turn Arizona into putty in her hands.

Arizona just laughed at the dumbfounded expression on her face and gave her a peck on the nose. "Tonight, you and I have a very important job to do".

"We do?" Callie asked in confusion.

"We do" Arizona confirmed. " And I'll have my presents on Christmas Day thank you very much".

* * *

"How about this one?"

"Too small" Arizona dismissed.

"Okay what about this one then?"

"Arizona barely looked at it before saying "too thin".

Callie mentally counted to ten before moving on to the next one but Arizona was already shaking her head and moving on. "Oh come on!" Callie complained, "What's wrong with that one? It's tall and fat!".

"I'll know it when I see it" Arizona said sagely, ignoring Callie's frustrated mutterings entirely.

"This is the third place we've been too Arizona" Callie whined as she traipsed after her girlfriend, bemoaning this 'very important job' that her girlfriend had them on. She noticed too late that Arizona had come to an abrupt halt and walked straight into her with an "oomph". Arizona stumbled a little at the contact but Callie's hold on her prevented her from falling.

"This is the one" Arizona said confidently. "What do you think?" she asked Callie.

Callie was about respond that it looked exactly like the fifty others they had looked at previously, but the shining anticipation in Arizona's eyes stopped her. "It looks great" she said with a warm smile, "I'll go and get someone to take it to the car for us".

* * *

Three hours later they sat in the living of Arizona's house in front of a perfectly decorated Christmas tree. They admired their handiwork as Carol of the Bells played in the background whilst drinking hot chocolate and roasting marshmallows as had become a bit of a tradition in recent weeks. Callie was leaning against the couch with Arizona settled in between her legs, the blonde's back resting against her front whilst Callie traced lazy patterns across Arizona's stomach.

Looking at the tree, Arizona marvelled at how it was the little things that the amputation had taken from her that made the biggest difference. In all her years she had always been the one to put the star on the tree but this year, she didn't yet have the confidence in her prosthesis to climb on a step ladder and reach the top of the tree. Instead of asking for help, she had asked Callie to place the star on the tree. She was soon pulled out of that particular thought by another happier thought.. the thought of Callie putting the star on their Christmas tree next year... and the year after that... and who knows how many years after that. Sighing contentedly, she snuggled even further into Callie's embrace.

* * *

The week leading up to Christmas Day was hectic at the hospital but at the same time it had become very domesticated for Callie and Arizona. They had bought Christmas presents together, did the grocery shopping together and Callie hadn't been home all week except to pick up new clothes. Callie would cook in the evening whilst Arizona would wrap presents. They would go for short walks or drives and before they knew it, Christmas Eve had arrived. Like every other night this week they had planned on spending it together but an emergency surgery halted that plan in its tracks.

"I'm just going into surgery now, I don't know how long I'll be" Arizona said to Callie over the phone.

"My loss is the tiny human's gain I suppose" Callie huffed dramatically into the phone. "I had one of your presents waiting for you though" she said, again using that sultry tone again.

"What did I say about opening presents before Christmas Day?!" Arizona laughed.

"You won't complain when you see it" Callie said in such a tone of voice that made Arizona's mouth go dry.

Unfortunately for Arizona, she would have no choice but to wait for Callie's mystery gift as it was 1.30am by the time she got out of surgery and it had just hit 2am the time she dragged her weary body through the door of her home. She immediately noticed that the lights on the Christmas tree were still twinkling and that the television was still on but with volume turned down low. Walking further into the living room she found Callie fast asleep on the couch with a small blanket thrown over her. Smiling at the thought of her girlfriend having attempted to wait up for her she turned off the television and sat gently next to Callie.

"Calliope" she whispered softly and she shook the Latina's shoulder lightly. Laughing when this had no effect whatsoever, she said her name a little louder and pulled the blanket away, hoping the loss of warmth would wake her sleeping beauty. Lifting the blanket, Arizona's jaw went slack. Callie was dress in a negligee that left just enough to the imagination. It was red, with a black lace trim and did wondrous things to Callie's already voluptuous breasts. Arizona wasn't sure how long she had been sat there staring before Callie awoke, possibly several decades before Callie's chuckle pulled her from her reverie.

"I asked you a question" Callie stated with an amused smirk.

Arizona just blinked several time, unable to form words let alone sentences.

"I asked you if you liked your Christmas present?" Callie said, indicating to the negligee.

"Its. Well. Wow" was all Arizona could come up with. "My girlfriend is hot. Like dirty hot". She looked more than a little proud of herself but Callie's stifled yawn brought her back down to earth. "But it's 2am and we're both pretty tired, maybe I can unwrap my present in the morning?" she asked seductively.

Callie pulled her into a kiss that wordlessly informed Arizona of just exactly what she had missed out on this evening and exactly what she had to look forward to in the morning. "You're onto a promise there I think".

As they both crawled into bed not so long later, Callie pulled Arizona into their usual embrace. She placed a soft kiss on her neck before whispering softly in her girlfriend's ear, "Merry Christmas baby".

**Thoughts?**


	16. Chapter 16

Title: Chance Encounters  
**Author**: Eek's Bubble  
**Rating**: M  
**Beta**: Big thanks to both Arizona3311 and FrownyEdgy  
**Pairings**: Callie/Arizona  
**Disclaimer**: All movies, songs, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual.  
**Summary**: What if Arizona was already an amputee before she met Callie?

**A/N**: Thanks once again for such lovely reviews of this story.

Arizona was asleep. Or at least she had been asleep up until about three minutes ago. Now she was being woken up in the best way she could imagine, Callie trying to pull her out of her slumber as she peppered her body with warm, wet kisses.

"Good morning" Callie said between kisses along the blonde's naval.

"Mm. Sleeping" Arizona said thickly but despite her reluctance to wake, she wrapped her leg around her girlfriend's back. She let out a moan as Callie took the opportunity that this new position afforded her to place kisses along the inside of her thigh.

Tantalisingly slow, Callie reached Arizona's core and placed a kiss on wet panties. She let out a chuckle as Arizona's hands tangled in her hair and kept her head there as the blonde arched into the kiss.

"I thought you wanted to go back to sleep?" Callie asked wickedly.

"Not on your life" Arizona panted as she felt Callie push the panties aside and swipe her tongue through wet folds causing another moan to escape her lips.

Before things could progress any further, the sound of Arizona's land-line rang out from somewhere in the hall. Callie made a movement to lift her head up but Arizona's hand kept her in her place.

"Ignore it... answer machine" she said, unable to form coherent sentences with her very hot girlfriend this close to her sex.

"Fine with me" Callie mumbled before returning her attention to the bundle of nerves in front of her.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Arizona fumed as this time, the sound of her cell phone interrupted proceedings. Extracting herself from her position on the bed she reached over for the offending object and answered, not bothering to check the caller ID, "this better be fucking worth it" she grumbled into the phone.

"Well Merry Christmas to you too Arizona. And mind your language please dear."

Arizona cringed. "Mom... Hi, Merry Christmas to you too", sending Callie a death glare as the Latina broke into a fit of laughter.

"Who is that?" Barbara Robbins asked as the laughter of someone who most definitely wasn't her daughter reached her ears.

"That's Calliope" Arizona said, narrowly dodging the pillow Callie had launched at her for using her full name to another person.

"And who is this Calliope?"

"My girlfriend" Arizona said with a smile. Indicating to Callie that she should stay in bed, Arizona strapped on her prosthesis and moved into to kitchen.

"That's wonderful sweetie" Barbara said.

"She's wonderful" Arizona said dreamily.

Five minutes later, having rushed her conversation with both her mother and father with a promise to call them later that evening, Arizona limped back into the bedroom with some coffee for them both. Just as she was about to crawl into bed and finish what they had started, Arizona's cell phone rang once more.

"What did I do to deserve this?" she whined as Callie let out her own frustrated groan. "Hello?" she said in a non too welcoming tone of voice.

"Merry Christmas!" came Amelia's voice. "I start work in an hour so I'm getting my phone calls in early..." Amelia continued to speak but she had lost Arizona's attention the moment Callie got out of the bed and made her way over to her bag to pick some clothes out.

"What do you think you're doing?" Arizona asked.

"What?" Amelia and Callie said at the same time.

"Not you, hold on" Arizona said into the phone before looking over at Callie.

"I thought I was getting dressed?" Callie said bemusedly.

"Oh no" Arizona said shaking her finger. "That negligee doesn't come off until I rip it off".

"Eww" Amelia said into the phone. "You couldn't have done me a favour and put me on hold or something?" Arizona just ignored her.

"Can I at least put a robe on and you can rip it off later?" Callie asked with a smirk. "I'm kind of hungry and I really want to give you your present".

Food, presents and Callie. Arizona wasn't about to complain about an offer like that.

* * *

After eating breakfast, both women sat underneath the Christmas tree opening their various presents having agreed to exchange their own gifts last. Arizona's family had mainly sent her things for around the house such as duvet covers and artwork for the walls. Between Arizona, Amelia and Teddy, the three of them had decided against Christmas presents and had instead booked a weekend away for themselves in February. Callie's pile of presents was considerably smaller than Arizona's given her estrangement from her family but Mark had bought her an iPod, which she was pleased with. Addison had sent her some kitchen equipment that she had wanted along with a huge gift tag with 'I'M SORRY' written on it in bold letters. She made a mental note to call the redhead and make peace with her.

When they finally exchanged their own gifts, they laughed as both women opened their boxes to reveal identical heart shaped, white gold pendants.

"Are we so well matched that we have all the same thoughts?" Arizona laughed.

"It's kinda creepy but it's kinda great" Callie replied in a singsong voice as she leaned in to kiss the blonde softly on the lips.

Just as Callie was about to deepen the kiss, Arizona pulled away, laughing as Callie pouted at the loss of contact.

"Wait" she said. "I have one more gift for you". Kissing away the frown that appeared on Callie's face at having heard of an extra present when they had agreed on just one, Arizona pulled out a bulky rectangular present from behind the coach.

"Why do you look nervous?" Callie asked warily as she watched Arizona bite her bottom lip adorably. Receiving no response, she decided to just go ahead and open the present. Ripping the wrapping paper off unceremoniously, she blinked a few times as she surveyed the item in front of her.

Not able to take the silence any more, Arizona spoke up. "I thought that maybe you could use this when you stay over, you know because all your stuff is always in bags?"

Still no response.

"It's stupid" Arizona said, chastising herself. "It's stupid and it's way too early". She moved to pull the drawer out of Callie's hands but the Latina had a firm grip.

"Hey!" Callie scolded as she batted Arizona's hands away. "This is my drawer and you don't get to call yourself or the drawer stupid. It's thoughtful and sweet and I love it".

"Really?" Arizona asked, still a little unsure. "It's not too soon?".

Callie just rolled her eyes at this. "It's a drawer not a marriage proposal. Can I go and put my things in it?"

* * *

Their Christmas afternoon was mainly spent in the kitchen, Callie was doing most of the cooking but Arizona was helping out with the smaller stuff such as peeling and chopping. She also had the very important role sampling the goods, Callie having to swat her away on more than one occasion. They talked about their memories of Christmases gone by and both debated about which one of their Grandmothers made the best Christmas dinner. Callie had gone all out for their first Christmas together, preparing a feast of Roast turkey, sage stuffing, bread sauce, roast potatoes, gravy, pigs in blankets and lots of vegetables. By the time they came to sit down for their first ever Christmas dinner together, it wasn't long until Arizona had declared that Callie now held the title for the best dinner.

Arizona washed up and Callie phoned the hospital to check up on the status of a couple of her post-op patients and whilst Callie was putting away the dishes, Arizona did the same.

"Can I keep my kitchen stuff from Addison here?" Callie asked. "Your kitchen is way better and I'm here more often that I'm home..."

"Of course you can" Arizona said as she leant in for a kiss. She was finding it difficult to keep her eyes off Callie. She had to bring out the big guns with her dimples to convince Callie to keep her robe on all day, especially through the cooking but the Latina had caved eventually.

Deepening the kiss, Arizona worked to untie the silk robe. Pushing it off of Callie's shoulders, she let the material slip to the floor. Fingering the hem of the negligee, Arizona husked, "I'd like to unwrap my other present now".

Callie allowed herself to be pulled gently into the bedroom but before they reached the bed she stopped.

"What's wrong?" Arizona asked.

"Nothing" Callie said simply as she wandered back into the living room before returning not even thirty seconds later.

"What was all that about?"

Callie just shrugged and then grinned wickedly. "I unplugged your land line and turned off your cell. We don't want any interruptions now do we?".

Removing the prosthesis, Arizona moved to the middle of the bed and allowed Callie to crawl towards her.

Placing her hands on either side of her girlfriend's head, she lowered her head to kiss her. Slow at first, until Arizona ran her hands along the negligee and cupped her breasts, pinching hardened nipples. Moaning at the sensation, Arizona took the opportunity to run her tongue along the open mouth, gently nipping at swollen lips.

As Callie's detached their lips and moved on to Arizona's neck, her girlfriend's hands were everywhere. Trailblazing wherever they went, stroking the outside of tones thighs, squeezing her ass or leaving light scratches down her spine. When Arizona simultaneously pushed Callie's body down whilst arching upwards herself for their cores to meet, causing them both to moan at the contact, Callie's arms began to tremble under the weight.

Encouraging Callie to lie against her, she did just that, rolling her hips against Arizona as more moans and pants puckered the silence.

As Callie removed the rest of Arizona's clothing, the smell of arousal almost made the Latina come then and there. Slowly snaking her hand downwards, she was mere centimetres away from her target when Arizona's hand over her own still her movements.

"Me first" Arizona breathed.

Callie wasn't about to complain.

Manoeuvring Callie onto her back, Arizona rolled onto her knees as she scooted further down to Callie's sex. It was time for the negligee to go. Once free of the material, Arizona used two fingers to part soaked folds sparking a guttural moan from the depth of Callie's throat. Slowly, she stroked the full length of Callie's sex.

Again.

And Again.

By this point, Callie's hips were thrusting wildly in search for more friction and her hands dug into the sheets.

"Please. Please Arizona" Callie begged.

Arizona didn't need further encouragement and slipped a single digit inside Callie as far as it would go, causing the Latina to cry out in pleasure.

"More, I need more".

Two fingers this time as cries of impending ecstasy filled the room.

Quicker.

Harder.

All it took was for Arizona to reach up with her free hand and pinch at Callie's exposed breasts to send the Latina over the edge and into oblivion.

Watching in awe as Callie rode out the final aftershocks of her orgasm, she slowly removed her fingers causing Callie to give one final hum of pleasure. Arizona made her way back up, worshipping the rest of her girlfriend's body with kisses, nips and scrapes before placing one final tender kiss on sated lips.

Pulling Callie into her embrace, Arizona asked tentatively, "Was that okay?"

"So much more than okay" Callie said hazily. "Mindblowingly fantastic is more the words I use to describe that".

Arizona couldn't help the grin that spread across her face.

"Mm sleepy now though" Callie mumbled, tucking herself into Arizona as tightly as possible.

"Go to sleep then baby" Arizona coaxed as felt her own eyelids flutter shut.

* * *

When Callie awoke from her sex induced slumber she found herself alone. Frowning, she sat up rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Arizona?", she called softly.

Receiving no response, she got out of bed to search for her MIA girlfriend. Pausing to put some pyjamas, she grinned at the memory that the sight of the discarded negligee brought at the end of the bed. As she padded into the living room, she found Arizona sitting in front of a roaring fire, a photo-frame in hand. On closer inspection she saw which frame it was as the memory of one of their first dates was triggered.

_Arizona looked down at the photo-frame, it was a frame in the shape of an open book that contained spaces for four photographs. The first one showed Arizona with another woman, both screaming at the top of their lungs as they shot down a long flume ride at a theme park, water cascading all around them. The second picture showed Arizona in bar with a bunch of different people including the woman from the first picture, everyone was laughing into the camera with their glasses raised. The third picture did not contain Arizona at all but Callie guessed that the blonde had taken the picture instead, it was of the woman again, she was a beautiful brunette with a porcelain like complexion. She was sleeping peacefully in this picture in what Callie assumed, (judging by the picture of Tim in the background) was Arizona's bed. The fourth and final picture showed both Arizona and the brunette simply looking at each other with their foreheads resting together._

Callie's head wrinkled in confusion, "um babe, you know it's not really good post-sex etiquette to look at pictures of your hot ex-girlfriend whilst your current girlfriend sleeps in your bed right?".

Callie's confused expression turned to horror as Arizona turned towards her, silent tears streaked down her anguished face.

Callie immediately sat next to the blonde, taking her free hand in her own. "Please tell me what's wrong. Did I do something to upset you?", she wracked her brains but couldn't think of anything. Arizona looked at her for what felt like the longest time to Callie, as though she was deciding whether to let the Latina in on a closely guarded secret.

The blonde took a great, shuddering breath. Using the hand that was intertwined with Callie, she pointed towards to group picture in the frame. She pointed to the first person in the picture, it was a man who looked to be in his early forties, he was tall and lanky with a scruffy beard and wiry hair. He was grinning like a goof into the camera.

"Malcolm Harrison. Head of Neuro. Aged Forty-Two. Married to his childhood sweetheart who is a high school English teacher. Considers his greatest achievement to be his son Andy, he was so proud when Andy got into Duke".

Moving their hands, Arizona pointed to the next person. This one was a younger man, probably about thirty if Callie was to guess. He was shorter and stockier than Malcolm, he was of Asian descent and very handsome.

"Tony Lang. Aged Thirty. Just finished his residency and taken up a general surgery attending position. Fiercely protective of his twin sister who is a radiologist at the hospital but was known as a bit of a playboy himself until he met..."

Callie thought she could see where this conversation was going but didn't interrupt. Instead, she allowed Arizona to move their hands to the woman in the picture who the afore mentioned Tony had his arms wrapped around.

"...Anna DuMaitre. Aged Thirty. Cardiothorasic Surgery Fellow. Came from a family of doctors. Fiercely competitive, hard-working and loyal. Wouldn't take any crap from Tony who had well and truly met his match".

A few people, Amelia included when passed as Arizona pointed to the next person. Another man, with sandy blonde hair and a military style haircut.

"Greg Atherton. Aged Thirty-Seven. Head of Trauma. Was a Major in the Army until his was honourably discharged around three years ago. Took his role of training the interns and residents very seriously and an all round good guy".

The next person pointed to was an African American woman who was sitting next to Arizona, their arms linked together.

"Grace Adeoje. Twenty-Seven. Surgical intern who had expressed a strong interest in paediatrics. Bright, intelligent and funny with just a hint of hardcore. Would have made an outstanding surgeon in whatever field she would have chosen".

"Would" Callie whispered at the use of the past-tense but Arizona just continued. Pointing a finger at the final person in the frame. At this point, it was Callie that let out a shuddering breath".

"Arizona Robbins", the blonde said. "Thirty-Three. Had just completed a highly prized fellowship in paediatric surgery and was considering various offers of attending positions with a couple of head of department offers thrown in there too. Loves her family and friends and determined to save the world one tiny human at a time".

Callie used the gap in Arizona's speech to adjust their position. She adjusted her legs and pulled her girlfriend in to sit between them. Arizona's back melted into Callie's front as the Latina wrapped her arms around the blonde's stomach. She then rested her chin on Arizona should as she waited for her girlfriend to continue.

"These are the people I worked with, some for years. I spent most of my time with them, even outside of the hospital. I considered them to be more than colleagues, we were friends, family even. These are the people who I got on a plane with to go to a hospital in order to help with a case of conjoined twins. None of us knew that when we got to the hospital, we would be the patients".

From the moment Arizona had named the first person in the photo, Callie had known the common thread they had shared. "What happened to them?" she asked gently.

Arizona didn't say anything for a little while and Callie didn't push her. She couldn't even begin to imagine how difficult this must be for Arizona. The strength it must take to relive such an ordeal to another person.

"When I regained conciseness, I found that I had landed just a few meters from the plane. I was in shock and was staring at an open femur fracture on my leg. Tony and Malcolm were nearby and relatively unscathed, well... physically unscathed anyway. Malcolm had a dislocated shoulder and Tony had a pretty nasty laceration to his skull. They wanted to splint my leg but I told them to go and find the others and I did it myself".

Callie closed her eyes briefly at the image of Arizona splinting her own leg. Squeezing her girlfriend extra tight, she silently encouraged her to continue.

"They found Grace first, from what we can gather, she died instantly. They found Greg next, a soldier until the very end. Despite what later turned out to be a cardiac tamponade, they found him trying to pull half an aeroplane off Anna. They all tried but they couldn't get her free, she died not long after. I can still hear Tony begging her to stay with him," Arizona said in a whisper as the tears flowed rapidly down her face.

"After that we waited. Malcolm spotted Greg's tamponade and performed surgery with a pen but he kept crashing. I don't think Malcolm slept for the entire four days we were out there. Greg kept arresting, or he was picking bugs out of my leg and then I got a PE... it was so dark and so cold".

At this pointed Arizona silent tears turned into torturous lament as her whole body shook.

"And then the animal noises started. The fighting and growling, right next to us, right there. We kept waiting for them to come and kill us but they didn't. And then I realised... they were fighting over Anna and Grace. And Tony and Malcolm tried to get them off of them but they couldn't".

It was a good ten minutes before Arizona could regulate her breathing enough to finish her harrowing story. Callie, doing to only thing she could think of, which was to hold her as though her life depended on it and to whisper soothing words in her ear.

"Greg died two hours before we were rescued" Arizona finished. "He survived Iraq and Afghanistan only to die in a plane crash," she added.

Callie's hand rested on Arizona's residual limb subconsciously. "Did they amputate straight away?" she asked.

Arizona shook her head. "No. The infection had gotten into the bone and they immediately recommended amputation but I refused consent".

At this piece of information, Callie lifted her chin off of Arizona's shoulder in surprise. "Why would you do that?" she asked incredulously. "You're a surgeon. You know better than anyone how dangerous that could have been for you. You survive a plane crash and four days in the wilderness and then refuse consent?".

Arizona took offence to this and moved out of Callie's embrace. "You don't get to judge me for that Callie. You have no idea the things that were going through my head at the time. The way I saw it, my entire future... my life as I knew it was irrevocably tied to the fate of that leg".

"I'm sorry" Callie backtracked. "I really am, of course I have no idea what it must have been like for you. I just..." a tear slipped down her cheek, "...the thought of what might of happened to you". She shook her head, unable to finish.

Arizona softened under Callie's pained expression. She reached over and swiped away the tear with her thumb. "Please don't cry" she murmured. "Nothing did happen to me... well, I went into septic shock and woke up with half a leg missing but you know... other than that".

Arizona had made it sound trivial but Callie could still hear the timbre of pain hidden beneath.

"I thought you had withheld consent?"

"I had" Arizona confirmed. "When I crashed, Teddy and Amelia overrode the decision with the double physician signature".

"They saved your life" Callie stated, making a mental note to give Teddy a massive hug when she saw her next.

"Yeah. I didn't quite see it that way at the time but... yeah, they did", Arizona concluded. Looking back down at the picture, she said, "this is the first Christmas since the crash. I was just taking a moment to reflect"

"Do you want to me to give you some time alone?" Callie offered but was relieved when Arizona shook her head.

"Stay with me?" she asked vulnerably.

Pulling Arizona into their previous position, no words were exchanged for a while. Both content to just sit in each others arms and stare into the fire, both lost in their thoughts. Callie for her part, still digesting the hideous picture that her girlfriend had painted for her whilst Arizona marvelled at how one event could change the course of so many lives. She thought of those who had died. She thought of Malcolm. But most of all she thought of Tony, forced the wander this earth for the rest of his life without the person who made him whole.

Eventually, it was Callie who broke the silence.

"Can I ask you something?". Receiving an affirmative from Arizona, she asked, "Will you tell me what you're thinking? What you're feeling?"

"I was thinking that... we are all of us, made different by it and for the longest time it made me _so _angry Callie. Angry like I can't even begin to describe". Arizona, attempted to compose herself before continuing but was having difficulty in controlling her emotions now that the floodgates had been opened.

"And I was thinking about how I didn't get survivors guilt like the others did because I wasn't guilty that I had lived whilst others had died. I was angry that I had lived... that God had left me live but took my leg when I would have rather have died out there" she sobbed.

"Arizona" Callie soothed whilst at the same time trying to swallow the bile that had risen to her throat at the very thought.

"But now I have guilt" Arizona said, "guilt for ever feeling that I was anything less than so very fortunate for having lived. Guilt that I am happy now when the families of three people are waking up today realising that this is the first Christmas of so many to come that will always be a little bit empty for them. And I'm guilty because this morning, I woke up in your arms... and for the first time since that plane went down, I didn't wake up thinking about them".

"Hey, hey, hey" Callie said as she kissed every single tear away from Arizona's face. "You mustn't feel that way. This is a good thing, you shouldn't feel guilt for forgetting because it is something that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Moving on with your life and finding a way to be happy shouldn't be seen a disservice to their memory, it should be in honour of it".

Arizona just nodded, too hoarse and tired from all the talking a crying to add anything further. Instead she just listened to Callie.

"I have guilt too" Callie admitted. "I wish that we had met under different circumstances, I really do but more and more... I have these feelings... these horrible, selfish feelings that without the crash, we wouldn't be together now. That we wouldn't have found each other. So I have guilt. Guilt that I wouldn't take back the crash if it meant I wouldn't ever get to be with you like this".

Arizona didn't know what to say to that so she didn't say anything at all. Instead she let the relief wash over her of having finally revealed her darkest moments to Callie and still have the woman hold her as though she wasn't as broken as she felt in that moment in time. She found warmth and comfort in the embrace of the woman who had so quickly captured her heart. So in front of the fire, being held by Callie she felt herself drift off. Waking only slightly when Callie eventually moved them both onto cushions that she had taken off the couch. Sleepily she snuggled into Callie as the Latina threw a blanket over them both.

For her part Callie waited before drifting off to sleep herself. Instead, content to watch Arizona slumber peacefully. It amazed her at just how invested she had become in another person's well-being. The thought of the pain and suffering Arizona had (and to some extent always would) endured made her own chest constrict painfully. She had spent the past week or so thinking that she might be... but then convincing herself that it was too soon to feel such things. But as she looked at her girlfriend's sleeping form, she smiled to herself as she realised that no amount of convincing would change her feelings. "I love you Arizona", she whispered before placing the softest of kisses on blonde hair as she finally allowed herself to sleep.

Arizona kept her eyes shut, waiting until she could be sure that Callie was asleep. Turning to face the Latina she looked at her girlfriend, wondering if she really had heard Callie say what she thought she had heard.

**Thoughts?**


	17. Chapter 17

**Title**: Chance Encounters  
**Author**: Eek's Bubble  
**Rating**: M  
**Beta**: Arizona3311 – Thank you!  
**Pairings**: Callie/Arizona  
**Disclaimer**: All movies, songs, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual.  
**Summary**: What if Arizona was already an amputee before she met Callie?

**A/N**: Really sorry for the delay in updating. Work and illness have kept the muse at bay.

* * *

"Did you even hear a word I just said?"

Arizona looked up to see Teddy looking at her expectantly.

"Yes?" she chanced.

"So have you?"

"Okay I wasn't listening per se..."

Teddy eyed her friend closely and repeated her question, "Have you noticed Tommy's hip?"

Looking down at the tiny infant, Arizona nodded. "I paged Callie so she can come and take a look after her surgery."

Noticing her friend's dull behaviour, Teddy decided to bite the bullet. "Okay, what is the matter with you? And don't say it's nothing."

Arizona fixed Teddy with a hard stare before shrugging. "I'm just having a bad day is all."

"It's been a little while since you've had a bad day," Teddy said softly. "I was beginning to think that Callie had swooped in and taken them all away". It was meant to be a compliment to her friend's relationship but she didn't miss the slight twitch Arizona displayed at the sound of her girlfriend's name.

"Are you busy tonight? I was thinking maybe we could have a girls night at my place?"

"Sounds great" Teddy replied happily. "I'll bring the wine, what does Callie like?"

There was that twitch again.

"Um, it'll just be you and me."

Before Teddy could make a further comment, Callie strolled into the NICU, tying on her pink gown whilst walking towards them.

"Hi" she said brightly, instantly dismissing any suspicions that Teddy was entertaining about a possible fight between the two.

Confusion briefly flashed across Callie's face as Arizona returned her greeting with less of her usual warmth. She looked at Teddy, who just shrugged. Putting it down to a difficult case, which this certainly was, Callie focused on the patient and began her examination.

"Well, it's definitely hip dysplasia" Callie diagnosed. "I'll get some scans to confirm but I'm pretty sure Tommy can be treated with a harness."

For the first time since Callie had entered the room, Arizona looked a little less troubled. "Well that's something" she said, "this little guy has enough surgeries ahead of him without adding another to the list."

She was still avoiding eye contact with her girlfriend though.

"Right" Callie said, lowering her head to get Arizona's attention. "Well I'll go and arrange the scans then". It wasn't a question but it came out that way, like she was hoping that Arizona would tell her what was wrong. When she just nodded and passed her the chart instead, Callie excused herself from the room.

Teddy had surveyed the scene with interest and was about to enquire further when Arizona's pager went off.

Looking down at the offending object, the blonde mumbled, "aaand my leukaemia patient is coding again. Great". Tearing off her gown as she walked out of the NICU she said to Teddy who had followed her, "so I'll see you tonight?"

Teddy nodded. "Maybe then you can tell me what's going on with you and Callie?"

Arizona didn't respond to that comment, instead she climbed on her scooter and whizzed away.

* * *

"So are we going to talk about this?" Teddy asked her best friend softly. They were an hour into their night together and she was reminded of how things used to be when Arizona first came home from the hospital. They would sit together for hours, watching TV or reading, never talking about anything of any significance as Arizona stewed in her own toxic thoughts.

Arizona didn't take her eyes of the television programme that was on but Teddy knew she wasn't really watching it. She was stewing again. Slowly, Arizona pulled a letter out of her jeans pockets and silently handed it to Teddy.

Reading the letter, Teddy's expression went from curious to understanding. She closed the letter and passed it back to Arizona.

"I didn't think things would progress that quickly. It's only been what? Eight months?" Teddy said.

"Seven months, three weeks and three days." Arizona corrected.

Teddy squeezed her friend's hand and didn't let go. "Will you go?"

Arizona half shrugged, still looking blankly at the television screen. "I don't have a proxy there, I guess I'll have to."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do Arizona."

"How many miles do you think it is to Baltimore from here?" Arizona asked. "It must be at least two and a half thousand I'd say" she continued, answering her own question.

"You'll drive?"

Arizona nodded. "I couldn't... I can't even think about getting on an aeroplane", she let out a short bark of laughter at the irony of the situation. "I had all these plans to go to Spain and Fiji but now I can't even manage a trip to Baltimore in order to watch lawyers measure the costs of a plane crash."

"I'd like to come with you if you'll let me?"

Arizona finally looked away from the television and straight at Teddy. She felt a lump grow in her throat as she thought of how much she had to thank this woman for. She had overridden the decision made by Arizona not to amputate, she had slowly, carefully pulled her out of the depression that had threatened to consume her in the early days and encouraged her to get fitted for a prosthesis. Finally she had brought her out to Seattle, where she would find a home, a job and a girlfriend. She let out a steadying breath as a tear or two leaked out of watery eyes before saying, "we've come this far together right?"

"You know, I thought that something was wrong with you and Callie. It never even crossed my mind that the hearing would come around so quickly." Teddy said.

There was that twitch again.

"Everything _is_ okay with the two of you right?"

Arizona went back to staring at the television.

"Out with it Arizona Robbins." Teddy scolded.

The blonde sighed, why did Teddy have to know her _quite _so well? "Callie said that she loved me" she blurted out unceremoniously.

"So why are you acting so miserable?"

Arizona threw her a look.

"Aside from the whole letter about the settlement hearing bringing back horrible feelings and memories of course" Teddy recovered.

"Because she said it when she thought I was asleep."

"Why were you pretending to be asleep?"

"Focus Teddy."

"Right sorry. So Callie declares her undying love for you whilst you were fake sleeping. Gotcha"

"That was on Christmas Day. Five days have gone by and she hasn't said anything about it since"

"Well considering she thought you were asleep, what exactly are you expecting her to say?"

"She's supposed to tell me that she loves me when I'm awake so I can tell her that I love her too"

"Aw Arizona, you're In love! That's so great!"

"Focus Teddy"

"Okay. So the problem isn't that you don't love her back, it's that you weren't given a chance to respond" Teddy surmised.

"Exactly!" Arizona exclaimed, glad that her best friend was finally on board with her predicament. "That and she clearly didn't mean what she said."

"Sure, sure" Teddy nodded thoughtfully, "wait, what?"

"She told me that she loved me when she thought I was asleep, who does that unless you don't really mean what you are saying? Who does that Teddy?"

Teddy just shook her head helplessly. "Arizona are you freaking kidding me?"

* * *

Arizona pottered around the Callie's kitchen, making them both some dinner whilst the other woman showered. Her mood since her conversation with Teddy the night before had done little to improve her mood, nor did it help that despite all her efforts in surgery today, a four-car pile up yielded no survivors. She had only agreed to go to Callie's because she was on call and too tired to make the journey home.

"Seriously?" she muttered to herself as she searched for the where the pans lived. "Why would you keep pans way up there?" she asked nobody in particular as she located the pans in one of the overhead cupboards. Arizona knew that having to learn how to be mobile was just a part and parcel of her life now and for the most part she had accepted that.

Not today though. Today she hadn't saved a single tiny human she had operated on. Today she knew she was one day closer to a settlement hearing. And today, trying to get a pan out of a cupboard was another challenge that reminded her of just how much her life had altered as a result of her becoming an amputee. One reminder too many with the week she was having.

So she spent the next few minutes chopping vegetables, silently wallowing. It wasn't long before she found herself cursing under her breath as her search for the salt led her to the other top cupboard. Thinking that they would be lucky to eat by midnight at this rate, she used the same trick she had used with the pan to reach the salt, she used a spatula to knock it down so she could catch it.

When she heard the sound of the shower shutting off in the bedroom, she knew that Callie would be out soon. She also knew that Callie would see that dinner was taking a while and she would offer to help and for a million different reasons, that bothered Arizona tonight. Pushing ahead, Arizona again reverted to her spatula trick to retrieve another ingredient, stretching as far as she could, she hooked the utensil around the stock cubes. Losing her balance slightly, she quickly recovered her position but not in time to prevent herself from knocking a full bag of flour onto herself.

She stood at the kitchen counter agape, silently fuming as she surveyed her sweater that had been blue only moments ago. A quick inspection of her hair and face revealed the same thing. She closed her eyes and forced herself to count to ten when she heard laughter erupt from the doorway of the bedroom.

It didn't work.

"What?" she snapped as she turned to face her girlfriend.

Callie's laughter died in her throat at the glowering look she was currently receiving. Instead she just watched as Arizona barged past her, slamming the bathroom door behind her.

"Okaaaaay" Callie said to herself, shaking her head as she entered the kitchen to clean up the flour. Understanding for the first time why men always seemed to jump to PMS as a reason for women's erratic behaviour as she found herself wondering if that was the cause of Arizona's temper over the past few days.

When Arizona emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later, not even the guilt she felt upon finding Callie had cleaned up and made the rest of their meal was enough to temper her dour mood.

"Are you going to tell me what just happened or would you like me to guess?" Callie asked with her eyebrow arched.

Arizona wasn't in the mood to talk. "I spilt flour on myself while trying to reach for something in one of the top cupboards". She knew that wasn't what Callie was asking.

If it was even possible, Callie's eyebrows arched even further, "fine" she clipped. Clearly it wasn't fine though as not even a minute later she said, "I could have gotten anything you needed down from the cupboard."

The diatribe Arizona was about to throw Callie's way was cut off by the sound of the blonde's pager going off. Standing, she grabbed her coat and purse and walked towards the door without a word until she was stopped by Callie.

"What the hell is going on with you Arizona?"

Arizona turned on her heel. "Is there something you want to tell me Callie?" she asked.

Callie noted the use of her shortened name as she tried to think of something she should have told the blonde. Her expression must have been as blank as her thoughts because Arizona pressed on.

"I'm thinking of something important here?"

"Arizona I'm stuck here so you're going to have to spell this one out for me". When instead she turned to leave once more Callie spoke again, "so what, now you're just going to leave?"

"Yes, because I have a patient!" Arizona yelled slamming the door as she exited the apartment, leaving Callie utterly bemused.

* * *

As Arizona hadn't returned to the apartment that night, nor had she returned any of her girlfriend's calls or texts. So Callie started her own shift the next morning with the intention of finding Arizona as soon as possible to talk to her about what was going on. These plans were halted when a trauma came into the ER and it was all hands on deck.

"Hey is your trauma patient stable for skin grafting?" Mark asked Bailey, who had just shooed the chief off into surgery.

"The one with the pancreatic duct rupture" Callie added, noticing immediately that Arizona was with Bailey.

Bailey opened her mouth to respond but was cut of by the appearance of Adele Webber.

"Miranda?"

"Oh Adele! I'm so sorry, I sent the chief of into surgery. Do you want me to..."

"What I want" Adele interrupted, "is for you to tell me the truth. Are you having an affair with my husband?"

Bailey stood there with her mouth hanging open whilst the eyeballs of Callie, Mark and Arizona bugged out of their heads.

"I am not having an affair with your husband!" Bailey's voice got more high pitched with each word.

Adele however wasn't convinced. "I saw the way you handled him just now."

Arizona, Mark and Callie were watching the exchange like it was a tennis match.

"Han... I did not handle him! There was _no_ handling. We work together!"

"You spend every waking moment together, you finish each other's sentences. You read each other's minds. You're more married to that man than I am"

At this point, Callie decided to come to Bailey's aid and stepped in.

"Well yeah, but that's just because their husband and work wife"

Bailey clearly didn't think much of Callie's 'aid' at this point because she turned to the Latina and said, "Excuse me?"

"The chief's your husband and you're his work wife!" When Bailey looked murderous, Callie thought it best to elaborate, "You look out for each other, you take care of each other, there's nothing wrong with it. It's like Sloan and me"

"Excuse me?" both Mark and Arizona said simultaneously.

Callie ignored them both.

"He's my work husband but he has a girlfriend and I have a girlfriend" she threw Arizona a smile, "but there's nothing going on between us"

"Well there was at one point," Mark said.

"Excuse me?" Arizona said.

"You're not helping!" Callie said, referring to both Bailey's predicament with Adele and now it would appear her own predicament with Arizona.

"You slept with him?" Arizona asked, jerking her thumb in Mark's direction.

"I'm standing right here you know" Mark complained as Callie simultaneously said,

"Kind of"

"Kind of?" Mark repeated indignantly. "There was no kind of about it, you and I were hot. We were at it like rabbi..."

"Stop speaking right now" Callie threatened, her tone mutinous but Mark was unperturbed in the face of this insult to his sexual prowess.

"We were great together. How can the best sex either one of us has ever had be described as just 'kind of'?" he asked, the hurt evident in his tone.

Callie ignored Mark; she could deal with him later. Instead, she looked towards her girlfriend whose expression was unreadable.

"Arizona..." Callie began.

"It's fine Callie" the blonde interrupted.

There was the use of the shortened name again.

"Everyone has a past right?" Arizona finished.

If this conversation had happened just a few days ago, Callie would have just accepted that Arizona was speaking the truth. However, the recent odd behaviour from her girlfriend had her doubting the sincerity behind Arizona's words. Deciding this was far too public a setting for such a private conversation, she took a step towards the blonde who in turn immediately took a step backwards to maintain the distance between the pair.

Clearly it wasn't fine.

Mumbling that she would see her at the New Years Eve party that Derek and Meredith were hosting that evening, Arizona turned and left. As soon as she was out of sight, Callie turned around and slapped Mark on the upside of his head.

Callie closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Do you ever, _ever, _think before you open your mouth?" she asked her so called best friend exasperatedly.

Mark just shrugged. "Probably not but you're the one that didn't tell her about us. This one is all on you Call."

* * *

Teddy was charting in the attendings' lounge, enjoying a break between surgeries to grab some lunch, forgoing the cafeteria in search of a bit of peace and quiet. Just as she was rejoicing in the fact that she had managed to escape her scalpel hungry resident in the shape of Cristina Yang, her solitude was disturbed by Owen Hunt. Things were only made worse by the fact that he looked delighted to see his old friend.

Teddy cringed internally whilst returning Owen's smile in greeting. Her discomfort only increasing when the trauma surgeon joined her at the table, lamenting about how they hadn't had a chance to catch up recently. Instead of responding, she gave a lame nod and stuffed her mouth to the brim with her lunch.

"So what's new with you?" Owen asked amiably, completely oblivious to his friend's discomfort.

_I've been in love with you for what feels like my entire life but you are in love with my resident so that leaves me miserable and celibate. _

No. That response wouldn't do.

Instead she talked about her research, her cases and so on. Things got a little hairy when he suggested that the two of them and Arizona should all go out and have a drink but she managed to deflect that when another doctor entered the lounge looking frazzled.

"Callie!" Teddy all but screamed as she jumped up and pulled the ortho surgeon towards them. "Have you got time to go over a case with me?"

Callie looked confused, "a case?" she asked. Cardio and Ortho very rarely went together.

"Yes Callie, a case" she said with an impatient bite to her tone as she mentally begrudged how obtuse Callie could be at times. "Help me!" Teddy hissed as she all but shoved the Latina into a seat.

"Something I can help with?" Owen asked.

Teddy shoved food down her throat again.

"So I hear your budget has been cut in half Owen? That must be a tough pill to swallow" Callie said with the perfect mix of nonchalance and sympathy.

"Excuse me?" Owen spluttered.

"Oh you didn't hear? My bad, I just thought you would know with you being head of trauma and all... I mean I suppose it could just be a rumour..."

The effect was immediate as Owen jumped to his feet and excused himself to go in search of the chief.

As soon as he had left, Callie raised an eyebrow in question but one look from Teddy indicated that she would brook no discussion on the matter. She did, however, thank Callie for her help.

"I owe you one.," she said.

"Yeah, well I'm cashing in on that one straight away" Callie said.

"What do you need?" Teddy asked, more than willing to repay the favour.

"An insight into Arizona's head."

Teddy went to stand, "you and I won't be doing that Callie. She's my best-friend"

"Just one question" Callie almost pleaded.

Teddy sat back down warily, "one" she said. "And I reserve the right to not answer"

"I still haven't figured out to leave her be when she's pissed or if I should confront her about it. Of course it would help if I knew what she was pissed about..." the last part said more to herself than to Teddy.

Teddy considered things for a moment. "She processes things internally, she'll come around sooner rather than later so maybe just wait for that. Besides, I've already tried.". The cardio surgeon left soon after that, really not keen to get into a conversation with Callie about Arizona.

* * *

Arizona had her nose buried in a chart at the nurse station when she felt someone sidle up to her. Recognising the cologne that he seemed to bathe in, she didn't acknowledge Mark's presence.

"I know you don't like me all that much" he said as he took a bite out of his apple whilst leaning against the station.

Arizona ignored him.

"I'm not going anywhere Blondie" Mark promised with a grin.

Arizona couldn't tell whether he meant he wasn't going anywhere right at this moment or if his meaning went a little deeper than that. Sighing, she turned to face him.

"You have proved on at least one occasion to me that you are a good guy Mark but the fact remains that I have always had a tendency to want to hit any of my girlfriend's exes with a brick."

Mark's smile faltered slightly.

Having returned to her chart, Arizona silently counted to ten when Mark made no attempt to leave. "I'd run away if I were you before I find a brick" she threatened.

"I have one thing to say and I'm not going anywhere until I've said it"

Arizona turned towards Mark once more and waited.

"Callie got upbraided by an awful lot of people not so long ago for not communicating with you and flying off the handle instead. Now you may not be flying off the handle yourself but you don't seem to be doing much talking either. Maybe you should think about that before you push away a woman who cares about you or threaten people with bricks. And I really hope that this is more than just about Callie and me. Because all that ever was, was just a storm in a teacup"

As Mark walked away, the sound of Arizona's tinkling laughter at the irony of the situation could be heard all the way down the ward.

* * *

"Hey Callie" Meredith greeted as she opened the door. "Robbins not with you?"

"She'll be here soon" Callie responded but in reality it felt as though she was reassuring herself more than she was Meredith. The truth of the matter was that she wasn't sure if she would be seeing Arizona tonight and the thought of that made her miserable.

Pushing away the thought she was about to get dumped, she made her way over to the makeshift bar and poured herself a generous measure of tequila before joining the rest of her friends and colleagues to enjoy the night as best as she could. Other than the slightly awkward conversation with Owen when he revealed that nobody had heard anything about any budget cuts at which point she had to be rescued by Mark, she wasn't doing too badly. Nevertheless, the blonde was never far from her thoughts.

With half an hour until midnight to go and still no sign of Arizona, Callie had had quite enough of listening to Mark's blow by blow account of Lexie Grey's relationship with Jackson Avery.

"Mark I'm begging you to shut up. Lexie is on my service all of next week, I'm sure I can think of something to throw the two of you together if you just stop talking about it for two minutes together. Now if you'll excuse me, there is only one person I want to bring the new year in with and she isn't in this room".

Callie had made her decision as she walked over to Teddy and said, "I know you said to leave her be until she comes around but if you ask me, that's just another form of not communicating and I don't plan on making that mistake again." Not waiting for a response, she downed the rest of her drink before grabbing her jacket and making her way towards to the door. As she pulled it closed behind her, she heard a voice nearby.

"Going somewhere?"

Callie turned to see Arizona making her way up the steps to the front porch.

"To find you" Callie responded but didn't move from her spot.

Arizona stopped in front of Callie and said, "yeah, sorry about that, lame surgery ran long. What did I miss?"

"Mark plotting Jackson Avery's death and Teddy avoiding both Owen and Cristina who, by the way, has officially entered the rabid dog stage in the race for Chief Resident"

Arizona laughed as she took in Callie's appearance, saying in a small voice, "you look really pretty"

Callie just tilted her head to the side in silent question.

"Sit with me?" Arizona asked, indicating to the porch bench.

As they sat, despite the uncertainty Callie was feeling, she instinctively pulled the blonde into her embrace, shielding her as best she could from the cold. She took it as a good thing when Arizona seemed to melt into her with a soft sigh.

"I owe you an apology," the blonde mumbled into Callie's chest.

Callie didn't say anything, content to just kiss blonde hair and wait for Arizona to elaborate.

"I got a letter about the plane crash and I settlement hearing that I need to go to, which didn't put me in a good place. After that, everything just seemed to go wrong, I lost patients and just generally had a crappy few days where I couldn't seem to get out of my own head. I know it can't always be about my leg and it hasn't been that way for a little while now. But some days... it just is"

After a few moments of silence, Callie asked, "why didn't you just tell me about the letter?"

Arizona sat up out of Callie's embrace and looked at her straight on. "You told me very early on in our relationship that you had insecurities but what I didn't tell you was that I get them too. So when you waited until you thought I was asleep to tell me that you loved me, I convinced myself that you didn't really mean it. In my head, I thought that by telling you about the letter and about my bad days... I thought that they would be just more reasons for you to be relieved that you hadn't told me to my face. I'm kind of fond of you so I didn't really want to give you a reason to run in the opposite direction". Arizona looked truly miserable as she said all of this and was no longer looking at Callie.

Callie, for her part, was flabbergasted from the moment Arizona had revealed she had heard her deceleration on Christmas Day and was sure that her facial expression showcased her thoughts perfectly. "Arizona that's not...", she couldn't finish.

"I think differently now" Arizona said, looking at Callie once more. "I think that you waited until you thought I was asleep was because you were scared. Scared that I wouldn't return the sentiment or that you are always the one to fall first. Whatever the reason, I figured that it doesn't change the way I feel about you because the thing is... I'm more than fond of you. I love you and that doesn't change regardless of that fact that you already said it or the manner that you chose to say it in"

"You love me?" Callie asked, her expression showing a myriad of emotions.

"That's all you got from that?" Arizona only half teased.

Callie ignored her. "You love me?" she repeated.

Arizona nodded, "I do. I'm sorry for not talking to you".

"Love means never having to say you're sorry. It also means being there for that person even on the dark days".

Arizona nodded absent-mindedly.

"Do we need to talk about the Mark thing?" Callie asked.

"I'm all about us communicating from now on but that is something I _really _don't want to talk about. Or think about. Ever. I'm choosing to think of him as your best-friend and not the ex-lover who has seen you naked"

"_Ten, nine, eight..." _their friends on the other side of the wall began to countdown.

"Fine with me. Arizona?"

"_Seven, six, five..."_

"Yeah?"

"_Four, three, two..._

"I love you"

"_One..."_

"I love you too Calliope. Happy New Year!"

**Thoughts?**


	18. Chapter 18

**Title**: Chance Encounters  
**Author**: Eek's Bubble  
**Rating**: M  
**Beta**: Arizona3311 – Thank you!  
**Pairings**: Callie/Arizona  
**Disclaimer**: All movies, songs, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual.  
**Summary**: What if Arizona was already an amputee before she met Callie?

**A/N 1**: Just something to keep in mind. In this story, Mark and Lexie have never been an item, Mark has just been admiring from afar for a while. Also, I'm not sure how I've managed to fit so much sex in without any actual sex being explicitly written about.

**A/N 2: **I can't even begin to tell you how much your continued support for this story amazes me. You are all wonderful. Part of this particular chapter is for Tanner12.

* * *

"Do you want to go back inside? It's cold out here." Arizona said as she pulled herself closer into Callie's embrace.

"Can we just go back to your place? I know its New Years and our friends are in there but I really just want to be with you."

Arizona smiled her response which was so radiant that Callie thought her heart might explode. "I really love you. So much." the blonde said.

"I love you too. Besides..." Callie began to husk seductively, "I can think of _so_ many ways to warm you up. And none of them involve this amount of clothing."

Arizona looked down at her puffa jacket with matching, striped mittens and scarf combo. Laughing as Callie led the way towards the car, the party forgotten.

* * *

Not thirty minutes later they were in Arizona's bed, both women in varying states of nakedness. For Callie however, something felt... off with Arizona. The blonde couldn't seem to make her mind up between insistent or passive during their foreplay and she wasn't as vocal as usual. When Callie finger caressed through blonde curls and parted Arizona's folds, the lack of moisture was confirmation that something wasn't right.

"What is it?" Callie asked tenderly, rolling off of Arizona and lying next to her instead with an elbow propping her head up. "Do you not want to?"

"I do..." Arizona responded slowly as she picked at the duvet, something Callie was quickly recognising as a nervous habit. "I guess the Mark thing is a bit more of a problem than I wanted it to be," she finally admitted.

Callie tried not to get frustrated but it was hard. Everyone had a past and Mark was a part of hers. She understood that it's not easy to have a girlfriend's ex around but Callie had been in exactly the same position with Amelia and had handled it better. She waited for Arizona to look at her and when she did, she chose her words carefully.

"I don't regret Mark."

_Of course you don't regret the best sex of your life,_ Arizona thought bitterly._ Who would?_

"I don't regret any of my past actions, even the crappy ones. They have made me the person I am today and I'm okay with that." When Arizona just continued to pick at the duvet, Callie decided to carry on, come hell or high water, they were going to communicate. "I think I handled Amelia pretty well, all I ask is that you afford Mark the same... tolerance. At the end of the day, he is a part of my life and I don't want to change that."

"I'm not asking you to change anything Calliope" Arizona said with a soft sigh, "you being friends with him isn't the problem."

"So what is the problem?" When her girlfriend didn't respond straight away, Callie pressed, "Arizona, what is the problem?"

"Without wanting to sound like the female version of Mark Sloan, I've err... I've been with my fair share of women." Arizona began to explain.

"Okaaay... Not where I thought you were going to go..."

"I was just about to explain Calliope."

"Oh, I'm sorry, please continue to tell me about all of your women. Your current girlfriend isn't threatened by that at all." Callie said sarcastically.

"Anyway, the point is, I've never received any complaints". Arizona looked at Callie pointedly, she really didn't want to have to spell this out, it was embarrassing enough.

Callie just started at her blankly. She really didn't have a clue where this was going and she was having trouble adding Arizona's previous sex life and her own fling with Mark to come to some sort of answer.

"I wonder if I've lost my mojo since the crash?" Arizona said thoughtfully to herself.

Callie's head was spinning. Communication was overrated. Before she could say anything, Arizona continued talking to herself.

"It's not like you would know the difference pre and post crash," he said waving a hand vaguely in Calllie's direction. "I guess I'm not going to know that unless I have sex with Amelia and she can compare but that's not really an option now". Again she waved her hand in Callie's general direction as an explanation as to why sex with Amelia wouldn't be a choice.

"I have no idea what you just said other than sex with Amelia is not an option. Which, by the way, it is absolutely not an option. I don't share. Especially not you."

"Maybe this is some naïve, rose tinted way to look at things but I guess I always though that sex with your forever person would be the best ever. I really do think you're my forever person Callie."

"You don't like the sex?" Callie was crushed.

"What?! No!"

"Please do a better job at explaining. Quickly."

"I thought that my forever person would be the best person for me, in every way. And I would be their best person. And for me... well the sex with you is amazing, on every single level. Best sex of my life to be completely honest."

Callie's grin couldn't have been any wider if she'd tried. "You aren't so bad yourself" she murmured into Arizona's next kissing and nipping at her pulse point.

"But not as amazing as Mark"

Callie immediately stilled her ministrations and pulled back to look at Arizona, who's eyes were so full of sadness and inadequacy that Callie's heart ached while her brain simultaneously began to beat herself up.

Sitting up fully this time, she looked down at her girlfriend and said,

"I can be really stupid sometimes and not put myself in other people's positions. Mark has been around for so much of the crap in my life that my blind spot for him tends to be pretty huge. Now that I'm with _my _forever person, I guess I'll have to work on that. Mark, is a legend for a reason but he is not the best sex of my life. _You _are."

"Really?" Arizona asked hopefully, "because if you don't mean it I'd rather you didn't say it."

"I do mean it. I really do mean it. You. Are. Amazing. We didn't have any problems before Mark was a douche and I was a douche for not correcting him did we?"

"No." Arizona said happily.

"I'll talk to Mark, set the record straight"

"No don't" Arizona said with a shake of the head, "I'll take the moral high ground here. You and I know we're good so that's all that matters" she said, inching closer to Callie.

"If you're sure" Callie said. Receiving an affirmative, she took Arizona's hand and slowly slid it down to her own folds. Smiling at the gasp her girlfriend emitted at the wetness she found there she said, "you are the only person who has ever been able to do this to me just from me thinking about you or taking just one look at you."

Arizona grinned wickedly. "Why don't you let me show you what I can do with more than a look or a thought then?"

* * *

Arizona entered the bustling ER the next day and looked around for the source of her page. She saw Callie examining what looked to be a dislocated shoulder from a distance and Teddy looking at the medication a patient had handed to her but there was no sign of Derek who had paged the on call Peds surgeon. Meandering over to the admin desk she checked with one of the nurses, who was working on the computer.

"Hi Nate, have you seen Dr. Shepherd?"

"Dr. Shepherd isn't working today Dr. Robbins," the young nurse responded before returning to his work.

"Huh" Arizona mused with a frown as she rechecked her pager, which confirmed the ER consult request from Dr. Shepherd – Neuro. "That's weird."

Still pondering the mystery page, she jumped slightly when a pleasantly familiar voice sounded from close behind.

"So my brother is the only Shepherd who can get a consult around here? I see how it is."

Arizona let out a rather girlish squeal as she turned around and enveloped Amelia into a bone- crushing hug. Withdrawing only to hit her on the shoulder playfully.

"Would it kill you to let me know that you're coming?" the blonde admonished. Her delighted expression became softer when she noted that, whilst Amelia looked pleased to see her, she still seemed a little out of sorts.

Answering Arizona's silent question, Amelia said, "Jen and I split up". When Arizona didn't say anything, she offered more information, "Things got pretty bitter having to work so close together and it got harder and harder to stay. Anyway, I spoke to Derek, who spoke to Chief Webber, who spoke to my Chief... to cut a long story short, I've got a three-month secondment here. I'll have to go back but I thought a bit of space wouldn't hurt anyone."

Arizona just nodded knowingly. She knew how many favours Derek and the Chief would have had to have called in to get Amelia temporarily transferred to Seattle. "Well of course I'm sorry about the circumstances but I'm definitely not sorry that you're here. It'll be just like old times!"

"Maybe not exactly like old times," Teddy said as she joined the conversation, bestowing her own hug on Amelia. "I've lost count of the amount of times I've walked in on the two of you" she added, shuddering at the thought of the sex radar she seemed to have when it came to Arizona.

"Yeah I don't think Callie would appreciate that too much," Amelia chipped in for good measure.

"Hi Amelia," Callie said as she joined them, handing a chart and giving out some instructions to Nate before turning back to the three women. "What wouldn't I appreciate?"

"Amelia and Arizona having lots of sex," Teddy responded happily without missing a beat.

"Um. No. No I wouldn't," Callie responded slowing, looking between Amelia and Arizona warily, especially given Arizona's thoughts about her own mojo the night before. They had soon overcome that particular insecurity though, three times to be specific.

The three women were soon laughing at Callie's confused expression.

"Relax honey" Arizona said warmly. "Amelia is going to be working at the hospital for three months, isn't that great?"

Before Callie could respond with anything other than a nod, Arizona was asking if Amelia had sorted living arrangements and if she needed a place to stay. She tried to keep her face neutral as she waited for Amelia to respond. It was one thing being okay with the hot ex girlfriend turned close friend being on the scene but it was something entirely different to have them live together for three months.

"I'm staying with Teddy. Wouldn't want to get in the way of the two love birds, Teddy says the two of you are practically shacked up. Have you bought a cat yet?" Amelia teased.

"We aren't shacked up at all are we?" Arizona asked Callie who smiled and shook her head. "Calliope just lives in a bat cave and enjoys the more smiley environment that is my place."

Callie scoffed.

"She thinks her apartment is modern and edgy," Arizona said to Teddy and Amelia as though Callie wasn't even there.

"At least my place doesn't have beige thrown up on every single wall" Callie pointed out.

"Not beige. Pastels for the four hundredth time. If you hate it so much then why come around so often?" Arizona rebuked.

Callie just shrugged, "you're a better lay than Cristina."

"How about we all go to Joe's after work for a drink?" Teddy said cutting Arizona and Callie off. "Amelia can tell us everything we've missed and I can belatedly celebrate the New Year with you two seen as you both disappeared before midnight."

They all agreed to this before heading their own separate ways Teddy back to her patients, Amelia to start her induction and Callie had barely made it to the surgical wing before she was called to an on call room for a special consult with Dr. Robbins.

* * *

Later that evening they made their way over to Joe's for drinks. Amelia had declared that she didn't want to talk about her relationship ending and instead wanted to get drunk and forget about everything. As Mark had soon gatecrashed the get together after their arrival at the bar, he soon got on board with a night of drinking. Not long after, they were also joined by Cristina, Meredith and Lexie.

"There's nothing like a good drinking game to loosen the tongue and the inhibitions," Mark said as he placed a tray of shots down on the table.

"I just learned to walk again. How am I supposed to remember I only have one leg if I'm drunk?" Arizona said for only Callie to hear.

"A good girlfriend would carry you home," Callie supplied.

"I think you're a good girlfriend," Arizona said with a loving smile.

"I'll remind you that you said that once Mark starts with his drinking games, they never end well"

"If you two ladies are quite finished making goo goo eyes at each other. I propose a game of I never. You all know the rules, somebody says they have never done something, if there is anyone who has done it, you drink. Blondie, you can start us off."

Arizona looked at Callie as she said, "I've never had sex with a room-mate." Mark was the only one to take a shot. "Just wanted to check you were definitely kidding about you and Yang" she said to her girlfriend mischievously, causing most people at the table to laugh with the exception of Cristina who looked confused and disgusted in equal measure.

"I have never cheated on somebody," Teddy said. Mark, Amelia, Meredith and Callie all raised their glasses and took a shot.

Arizona's eyebrows shot up, "Why do I have a feeling this game is going to be very illuminating for the both of us?" she asked Callie wryly. "I never hand you down as a cheater."

"My fault" Mark offered. "We slept together when she was still married to O'Malley. They were separated but still..."

"Well I guess that's not _so _bad" she said, rubbing Callie's back who looked too mortified to speak before she turned to Amelia.

"And you" she threatened. "As I am one of the very few people you've ever committed to, if you're about to tell me you cheated on me, then I'm not above taking my leg off and beating you to death with it."

"Not you" Amelia responded dourly, "I'll give you three guesses why I'm here in the first place."

"You cheated on Jen?!" both Teddy and Arizona yelled causing a few of the other bar patrons to look over.

"I love this game," Mark said gleefully.

"Say it a little louder why don't you? There are people in Tacoma who didn't quite catch that," Amelia muttered mutinously.

"You, me and Arizona are going to talk about that some more when there is less alcohol present," Teddy said but thinking on, "or more, depending on how it goes."

"I'm going to need more alcohol right now," Amelia said darkly.

"Here here! Next question, Cristina?" Mark boomed.

"I have never had sex with anyone at this table." Everyone but Teddy, Meredith, Cristina and Lexie had to take a shot at that.

"Really? You guys have all slept with each other at some point?" Meredith asked.

"More shots please Joe!" Mark shouted.

"I've never kissed anyone at this table," Meredith said. All took a shot apart from Lexie and Cristina.

"Who've you kissed Teddy?" Callie asked in surprise, her curiosity only peaked further when Mark declared it wasn't him (that he could recall). Noticing that both Teddy and Arizona were suddenly very interested in their beer mats, she exclaimed, "No way!" as she looked at the two women.

"It's really not that romantic," Arizona explained. "We were in college and had just got back to our dorm room after a night out with some people from our classes. It was Teddy's first time in a gay bar and she would stop complaining about how disappointed she was that she hadn't been hit on by a lesbian..."

"It's on my bucket list!" Teddy interrupted.

"... so" Arizona continued, "I kissed her, partly to shut her up and partly to get that damn thing off of her bucket list. Anyway she spent the next ten minutes gargling mouthwash and whining about the 'girl cooties' I had given her."

Everyone at the table laughed at this. When it came to Lexie's turn, Mark promised that she could scrub in on his midface hypoplasia in a couple of days if she asked the question of his choice. She could hardly turn that down to agreed immediately before he leant across and whispered in her eye. She blushed faintly before saying,

"I've never had the best sex of my life with anyone at this table."

"Yet" Mark coughed, winking in Lexie's direction causing the young intern to blush even more.

Callie, Mark, Arizona and Amelia all drank.

Callie couldn't help but throw a tiny glare in Amelia's direction as she wrapped an arm around Arizona's waist protectively. Amelia just shrugged in apology, although Callie didn't think that she looked sorry at all. If anything, she was wearing a more dreamy expression.

"You're hot when you're jealous," Arizona husked into Callie's ear.

Callie was just about to suggest that they ditch the others and go back to her place so she could show her just how hot jealous sex could be when Mark interrupted.

"Now the interesting question Blondie, is which one of our lovely brunettes," he indicated to both Callie and Amelia, "were you drinking to as the best sex of your life?"

Amelia looked uncomfortable to say the least. "I know the answer so please don't say it out loud." she mumbled. "My ego is a little fragile at the moment."

"That's not the interesting question" Arizona responded. "The interesting question is how does it feel knowing that Callie was drinking to me and not you?"

"What happened to taking the high road?" Callie whispered into her girlfriend's ear.

"That went out the window when he asked a stupid question that serves only to humiliate either myself or Amelia"

When it became obvious to Mark that Callie wasn't going to correct Arizona just yet, he defended his own honour.

"You're awfully sure of yourself Blondie."

Arizona just winked at Mark as she leant into Callie, her hand resting on the top of the Latina's jeans clad thigh. Slowly she moved her hand to the inside of Callie's leg and started making her way up. "Now might be a good time to mention that I get a little handsy when I'm tipsy."

Callie was too busy trying to inconspicuously stop Arizona's hand from reaching her sex to respond.

"You gonna help me out here Torres?" Mark asked.

"Huh" Callie asked, her hands snapping up onto the table out of fear of being caught. This turned out to be a rookie mistake however, as Arizona's hands quickly took advantage, creating just enough friction through the jeans to Callie's core, sending pleasant but distracting waves of pleasure through her body. She grabbed Arizona handed again and stilled her movements. "Sorry Mark but the Sloan Method is great but it doesn't have anything on the Robbins Method"

"The Robbins Method?" Arizona queried. She had always been confident in her... abilities... but she didn't give names to her sexual... manoeuvres.

"You don't want to know," Callie assured Arizona.

Arizona thought that Mark might be upset about the dent to his ego but instead, he looked rather impressed with the blonde. She found it difficult not to roll her eyes as she thought, _once a manwhore, always a manwhore. _

"Let's go home," Callie said suddenly, pulling Arizona to her feet who only wobbled slightly.

"Why?" Arizona whined, "I'm getting a nice buzz!"

"Because Mark is thinking dirty threesome thoughts and I've already told you that I don't share. Now why don't you take me to your bed and finish what you started not five minutes ago?"

"Hold that thought" Arizona commanded as she turned and pulled Mark to the side.

"You want to be with Lexie?" she asked.

Mark just nodded.

"Do you want to be with Callie?"

"She's my best-friend. I wouldn't trade that for anything we had before" Mark said.

"Then listen to me and listen good. If you want to be with Lexie, prove to her that you are a man that deserves her. The man that only Callie and possibly your mother knows exists. Because honestly, who cares if Callie doesn't rate you as the best sex of her life? You aren't together and you don't want to be together. Focus on finding the person who is going to be _your _person and then you'll know what the best sex of your life is. If you think that person is Lexie, then stop being so lecherous around her. You're hot, I get it but I think someone like Lexie is going to want to see something a bit more deep and meaningful regardless of how pretty you are. Now stop with the drinking games and go and get to know her a bit better."

Mark mumbled a few awkward words of appreciation and began to move back towards the table.

"Oh and Mark?" Arizona called, halting the man's movements. "If I ever found out that you have even thought about Callie naked, you'll never be able to have sex again. Are we clear?"

Mark nodded dumbly.

"Super!" Arizona said with a beaming smile as she turned and exited the bar with Callie in hot pursuit.

**Thoughts?**


	19. Chapter 19

**Title**: Chance Encounters  
**Author**: Eek's Bubble  
**Rating**: M  
**Beta**: Arizona3311 – Thank you!  
**Pairings**: Callie/Arizona  
**Disclaimer**: All movies, songs, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual.  
**Summary**: What if Arizona was already an amputee before she met Callie?

**A/N**: Loooong author's note, feel free to just skip it!

Just a heads up that there are only 6ish chapters of Chance Encounters left and everything is now pretty much mapped out to the end!

For those of you who have expressed concerns, Amelia will not be causing any problems with Callie and Arizona's relationship. Don't worry.

Funkyshaz57 – How's this for an offer? After I'm finished up with my three current stories, (and assuming nobody gets there before me) I'll write a one shot/mini series of Amelia/Arizona and post it on FF for yours truly. You will probably the only person who will want to read it though and all the rest will be flames!

Everybody else – You are all wonderful and I really do appreciate the time you all take to read and review.

Finally! I haven't forgotten about either Footloose & Fancy Free? or Game, Set, Match. This story just happens to be flowing nicely for me at the moment. Plus, Footloose really seems to hate me at the moment.

* * *

After the mini road bump Callie and Arizona had suffered over the Christmas and New Year period along with Amelia's dramatic return to Seattle, things had started to settle down for the pair. At work, Callie had gotten so used to finding Arizona in the lab working on finding a solution to her favourite patient's short gut syndrome that she had started fiddling with her own research. Soon she had developed a full project into artificial cartilage she was working on getting funding for. Outside of the hospital, Callie was barely ever home, the silent agreement was always to go to Arizona's place. Without even realising it, Callie's lone drawer had become half a dresser and some closet space and the layout of the kitchen had been changed subconsciously over time by Callie to suit her as she did the majority of the cooking. Arizona had even started parking in the garage so Callie's car could have the driveway.

The best part for both of them was having their friends around. Callie was so pleased to see Mark turn up to a dinner party they had hosted with Lexie as his guest and she was even happier that Mark and Arizona seemed to be getting along better. Having Amelia in Seattle made both Arizona and Teddy happy even though it wasn't under the best circumstances. Amelia had revealed to the pair soon after her arrival that her girlfriend Jen had came home early from a conference to find her in bed with her attending. Given that Jen worked in the hospital too as a cardio fellow, the whole fallout had been messy and public. Neither Teddy nor Arizona felt the need to reprimand Amelia for he actions, knowing that she herself was feeling bad enough. Instead they just chose to be supportive.

Before they knew it, January had rolled by and February was upon them. With February came the settlement hearing for the victims of the Hopkins plane crash and with two weeks to go, Arizona's angst was building with each day. It was this angst that was on Callie's mind as she sidled up to Teddy at the nurses' station near the surgical board having just finished a Laminectomy.

"We need a plan," the Latina said decisively.

"We do?" Teddy asked.

"Operation take Arizona's mind off the settlement hearing." Callie said with a nod.

"Ah" Teddy responded, now affording Callie all of her attention, "I think you might need a slightly shorter, less obvious code word though."

Callie grinned in response. "The only code word I know is pink elephants that you and Arizona are always mysteriously using. You're the army brat, you should know some."

"Let me think about it and get back to you" Teddy said with a laugh before her expression turned more serious, "how's she doing?"

"Not _too _bad considering" Callie said carefully. "She's definitely having nightmares again but she's not talking about them. Most of the time she's her normals but then if we're watching a movie or something sometimes she'll just faze out."

"I've noticed her patience is a little thin too" Teddy added, "especially if it's something to do with her leg."

Callie indicated she had noticed this too.

"It's understandable that this hearing is going to bring up all sorts of crappy thoughts and memories for her." Teddy said. "We just need to be there for her if she needs us."

"I don't want to just wait around and ignore the fact that my girlfriend is in pain over something. I might not be able to fix this for her but I can at least try to take her mind off things."

"Okay so what's your plan?"

"I was hoping you might be able to help with that," Callie asked.

Teddy looked thoughtful for a moment, "movies?" she suggested weakly. When Callie didn't even bother to respond she continued, "bowling? No, something better... a spa day?"

Callie pondered that thought for a moment before batting it away when she thought that ultimately, Arizona was probably still not conformable enough with her residual limb to display it so openly in front of strangers. "No, I don't think so. Better though." she said.

"We'll think of something," Teddy said reassuringly as both women's attention was drawn to Arizona, who had just exited OR3 and was currently in a discussion with an intern.

"Please think of something soon" Callie pleaded as they watched Arizona in the distance, barking rather uncharacteristically at the intern for ordering a wrong test.

* * *

"I have an idea for Operation Shadowcat" Teddy said triumphantly as she plopped herself down next to Callie's station in the research lab having spent the last half hour looking all over the hospital for her.

Callie arched her eyebrow, "Shadowcat? That's what you came up with?".

"Do you want to hear my idea or not?"

Callie just rolled her eyes, "go on".

"Well one of the residents on my service this week has just spent the whole morning begging me to give him Saturday off so he can go home to watch a basketball game. I said no by the way and FYI, his home is Portland."

"I'm not sure I'm following," Callie said quizzically.

"Have a guess at what team is making a trip to Portland?"

Callie's brow furrowed even further for a moment before recognition dawned on her. "No! Really?" she asked in excitement, "Arizona will freak!"

"Operation Shadowcat not looking so bad now huh?" Teddy said smugly.

* * *

"I have a surprise for you." Callie said excitedly as she pulled a gift bag out from behind the couch. She had wanted to wait until after dinner but couldn't hold it in any longer, she had already been sitting on this for the best part of a week.

"What's the occasion?" Arizona asked as she entered the living room from the kitchen where she had been preparing dinner. Wiping her hands on a dishcloth, she sat down next to Callie and took the gift with a smile of thanks.

"Does there need to be one?"

"Hey, I'm not complaining" Arizona responded as she opened the gift bag and peeked inside before pulling out a basketball jersey for her beloved Boston Celtics. Displayed on the back of the jersey was the name of her favourite player, Rajon Rondo along with his team number nine. "Thank you" she said politely, it wasn't that she was ungrateful; she just didn't know why she had been given it.

Sensing her girlfriend's confusion over the randomness of the gift, Callie went on to say, "They play the Portland Trail Blazers tomorrow."

"I know?" Arizona responded with a questioning look.

"Well. I thought you could wear the jersey when we go to the game," Callie finished as she pulled out a pair of tickets with a flourish, laughing as Arizona squealed in delight. She held the tickets back, however, when Arizona went to take them, "I'll need payment first" she said cheekily.

"Okaaay" Arizona said slowly, once again confused. "I guess I'll go get my purse."

"Not money you goof!" Callie said with another laugh, "I was thinking about a kiss actually"

"Oh!" Arizona replied happily as she leant in to place a series of pecks on plump lips. "I. Love. You" she said in between each peck and before Callie could return the sentiment, Arizona had turned the peck into a slightly deeper one that had Callie humming with pleasure. When they broke apart, the blonde said, "I'm your goof."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Callie promised with a soft smile and a final peck before handing the tickets over to Arizona, which was soon followed by another squeal.

"You got us court side seats?" she asked in disbelief as she studied the tickets.

"Wow really?" Callie said with a teasing inflection in her tone, "I thought I asked for the nose bleed section."

Arizona fixed Callie with a fake glare that wasn't very effective given the way her eyes were twinkling as she beamed with excitement. "I was just about to say that seats like this deserve so much more than a kiss but if you're going to tease me about it...", she left the rest of the sentence to just hang in the air.

"No teasing here," Callie said swiftly as she jumped up and pulled a giggling Arizona into the bedroom with her, very pleased that Operation Shadowcat had started well.

* * *

The next day, Callie and Arizona had agreed to meet at the hospital because although Arizona had a rare weekend off, Callie was working for a few hours. Luckily, she managed to get through her one scheduled surgery without any major problems and there had been no pages to the pit. After a quick shower, she changed into her clothes for the evening and made her way towards the lobby. Stepping off the elevator, she stopped abruptly as she caught sight of Arizona. After a few moments, she picked her feet up and moved into her girlfriend's line of sight, who smiled brightly in greeting. Callie just gawked, her mouth too dry to speak.

Recognising the lust in Callie's eyes, Arizona smirked. "Like what you see?" she asked as she did a little twirl. At one point in the not so distant past, she thought that nobody would ever be able to see past her disability. Callie had changed all of that, all it took was one look from her to make Arizona feel like the most beautiful, most adored woman on the planet and Arizona loved Callie all the more for that.

Callie grinned as she realised she had been caught staring. She really did like what she saw and then some. She'd never really appreciated the beauty of a basketball jersey before, or maybe it was just the way that Arizona wore it. Mentally, she patted herself on the back for choosing the away jersey as the green went so well with her skin tone and her eyes seemed to pop even more than usual. She admired the full length of Arizona's toned arms and the vast amount of cream skin on show around her neck. Trying to pull her thoughts back to more of a PG rating, which didn't work so well she said, "At the risk of sounding like a teenage boy or Alex Karev, you look hot. If I had known, I would have bought that thing for you months ago."

Arizona just grinned as a slight blush coloured her cheeks. Taking Callie's hand, they walked out of the hospital and towards the car park. "So you know about Alex huh?"

"Please, the guy won't stop staring at your boobs"

As the drive to Portland was the best part of three hours, they arrived at the Rose Quarter area of the city with about an hour to go until the game started at seven. Ambling over to the Rose Garden arm in arm, Callie told Arizona how she nearly took a job at the Providence Portland Medical Center when Seattle Grace merged with Mercy West. Arizona, for her part, declared that Portland would be a horrible place to work and she was pleased that she had stayed.

As they entered the Rose Garden, they piled themselves up with drinks and snacks as they hadn't had time to eat and made their way towards their seats in time for the game to start. Callie allowed Arizona to talk all about the Celtics form this season, how disappointed she was that Rondo had torn his ACL just a few games before against Miami (throwing a glare in Callie's direction at this point, as though it was her fault that her favourite player had been injured against her girlfriend's home town team) and how they would cope without him. By the time she had moved on to how the Celtics would have to watch out for LaMarcus Aldridge and Damien Lillard as the Trail Blazer's main threats Callie was only feigning interest.

"... I also got it on once with Kevin Garnett" Arizona finished.

"Yeah..." Callie said nodding along as she flicked through the program. "Wait what?!"

"I knew you weren't listening"

"I was half listening" Callie defended half-heartedly.

"It's okay baby" Arizona said as she squeezed Callie's thigh, "I'm sorry if I'm boring you."

The game started soon after and Arizona's attention was immediately diverted, depending on the state of the game, she would either be yelling or deadly quiet but she never took her eyes off the court. Occasionally she would mutter darkly to herself. Callie found this all rather adorable.

"Why do you look so miserable when your team are winning?" Callie asked. The Celtics were currently up by three at the end of the first quarter.

"Three turnovers and two steals. That's why" the blonde huffed.

Luckily for Callie, who was starting to worry about her girlfriend's blood pressure, the second quarter seemed to be more to Arizona's satisfaction as the Celtics took a 47-41 lead into the half time break.

"Happy?" Callie asked somewhat cautiously.

"Very" Arizona grinned as she leant in to kiss Callie, causing a few nearby spectators to whistle. Arizona just ignored them and Callie wasn't complaining for a second. "Thank you for this, it really is an awesome gift" she said.

"My pleasure." Callie replied as she put her arms around Arizona's shoulders whilst they watched the half time entertainment of the BlazerDancers performing some very complicated routines. This sparked a mini diatribe from Callie about cheerleaders and how they made her life hell in school. When Arizona squirmed a little uncomfortably at this Callie groaned, "You were a cheerleader weren't you?"

"A nice one!" Arizona insisted. "Besides, I gave it up after junior high. It was hard moving around all the time and having to always try out and do new routines. I did swimming too and my Dad said I would have to choose just one because he didn't want anything getting in the way of my school work."

This mollified Callie ever so slightly and Arizona was able to distract her enough into watching the $50k shot from the halfway line.

As the game wore on, Arizona became more and more relaxed, so much so by the time the third quarter was over, she declared that there was no chance of them giving up a lead like the one they had. Garnett and Pierce were already on fourteen points each and assists seemed to be coming from all over the court in Rondo's absence.

As they were waiting for the final quarter to start, the television crews did their usual kiss cam, landing on unsuspecting couples as the crowd cheered. It would appear that their earlier kiss and Callie's arm wrapped around Arizona had not gone unnoticed as the camera crew soon panned a cheeky shot on Callie and Arizona. Laughing as the cheering of the crowd went up a few decibel levels, Arizona pulled Callie in for a chaste kiss.

"You do realise you've just made us the star of every guy's fantasy don't you?" Callie said. Arizona just shrugged and shushed her as the final quarter got under way.

As they left the game not long after, the game having finished 92-84 in favour of the Celtics, Callie allowed Arizona to chat away happily about what a good time she had and her favourite moments of the game.

"Do you want to get some food?" Arizona asked. "Just something quick, we have a long drive back and it's getting late."

"Well" Callie began, "the surprise isn't quite over."

"Oh?" Arizona said with a full dimpled smiled.

"I've got us a room booked at The Nines. All the room service you like and we'll head back tomorrow."

"Best. Day. Ever." Arizona said as she threw herself into Callie's outstretched arms.

* * *

Soon they had checked into the hotel, Callie of course had booked the best available room on such short notice, which turned out to be a suite. The guy at reception had narrowed his eyes slightly as they entered the lobby, the sight of Arizona in a basketball jersey complete with the foam hand she still hadn't taken off didn't really fit in with the clientèle the hotel looked to attract. When Callie gave her name however, the attitude changed completely.

"Wow" Arizona murmured as she took in the view from the window. "This place is huge! I might get lost trying to find the bathroom." she joked.

"Only the best for you" Callie replied as she moved behind Arizona and wrapped both arms around the smaller woman's torso and placed her chin on Arizona's shoulder. "I love you."

Arizona's response was a loud stomach rumble. Blushing slightly Arizona laughed in embarrassment, "I love you too but I think my stomach loves food more".

Moving over to look at the room service menu they deliberated over the choices on offer. "What are you in the mood for?" Arizona asked. There were so many good things to choose from but nothing was standing out as the clear winner.

"Honestly?" Callie said, "Pizza."

"That's not on the menu!" Arizona responded with a tinkling laugh.

"In a suite like this, at this type of hotel, that really doesn't matter" Callie said seriously.

Arizona thought for a moment, "pepperoni?" she asked.

"You read my mind," Callie said with a grin.

Half an hour later the pizza had arrived and they had just finished their first slice when Arizona said, "do you know what tastes better than hot pizza?"

Callie shook her head as she took another bite.

"Cold pizza"

Callie's brow furrowed in response, "you want to let the pizza go cold and then eat it?" she asked in confusion. "Why?" she asked when Arizona nodded.

"Because as yummy as this pizza is, there is something I want more right now"

"What's that?"

"You" Arizona responded simply with a seductive smile.

Not that Callie ever needed to be seduced by Arizona. Her eyes immediately darkened with lust as she watched Arizona get up and move towards the bedroom where there was a bed big enough to fit five basketball players in comfortably.

"Um... do you think you could leave the jersey on?" Callie asked.

"Really?" Arizona asked with a knowing smile and a quirk of the eyebrow.

Callie nodded vigorously, "just the jersey, nothing else"

Arizona obeyed silently, slowly and tortuously taking off her jeans, the prosthetic and her panties all whilst Callie watched from the doorway. When she pulled off the jersey, Callie began to object but Arizona held up a hand to stop her. "You said _everything _but the jersey" she said as she sat from her seat on the edge of the bed. "Unless you want me to keep this on too?" she asked innocently as she pointed towards her royal blue plunge bra.

"As nice a bra as it is, it really needs to come off" Callie said wickedly, moaning slightly as Arizona obliged the request by removing her bra, becoming naked for a moment before she put the jersey back on.

Moving back so she was in the middle of the bed, she laid down and propped the top half of her body up with her elbows. "Ready when you are" she husked.

This emitted another moan from Callie as she herself, shed her clothing and crawled onto the bed and over to Arizona. As Callie pressed herself against Arizona, both women hummed in pleasure. A pleasure that only increased as Callie's lips found Arizona's and they kissed each other with such passion that left Arizona in no doubt that tonight wasn't going to be about making love. No. Callie was going to ravage her and she wasn't about to make any complaint at all.

Eventually Callie pulled their lips apart and began kissing her way down her girlfriend's neck and body with such fervour that Arizona couldn't tell where one kiss started and another began. Her own moans filled the air as Callie began to suck and bite in between the kisses and Arizona couldn't help but run her foot up the back of Callie's leg.

For a moment Callie was distracted by Arizona's own wandering hands and the effect her ministrations with her having on the Latina's body. That wouldn't do. Grabbing both of Arizona's wrists, she placed them over the blonde's head and said in an authoritative voice, "they stay there. Got it?"

Arizona just whimpered and nodded.

Content Arizona would obey, Callie returned to her worshipping of the body in front of her, her own hands sneaking under the jersey, pinching erect nipples almost painfully and then soothing them with open mouthed kisses, all of this eliciting the loudest moans from her girlfriend yet.

Until Callie abruptly plunged two fingers deep inside Arizona's drenched core causing her to cry out as she fought to keep her own hands above her head.

"You're so wet baby" Callie gasped as she watched Arizona bite her lip and squeeze her eyes shut as Callie pumped in and out of her, sending waves of pleasure running through her body. "Look at me Arizona" she commanded as Arizona's eyes fluttered open and looked upon her. "You're so wet for me, do you know how wet I'm making you?" she asked.

Arizona's response to the dirty talk was to fill the room with even more cries of pleasure that once again increased as Callie easily added a third finger into the equation. "Please don't stop" Arizona almost begged as she felt her release coming hurdling towards her at full pelt.

"No stopping" Callie promised as she thrust herself into Arizona, both of their skins sliding together from the sweat of their excursions, the jersey having been discarded a few moments ago in the quest for more contact.

"I'm coming" Arizona said in a strangled voice but Callie already knew this as she felt her own fingers being sucked into Arizona's core as the blonde's muscles tightened around them. All it took was one last swipe of the clit with her thumb to send Arizona over the edge as she screamed out in ecstasy, riding wave after wave of pleasure as her orgasm ripped through her before she melted into the bed.

Callie wasn't done though as she gently spread Arizona open and began lapping up her juices, eliciting her own moans at the taste. Soon her sounds were joined by that of Arizona who in spite of her exhaustion from the first round felt her body react to the swipes that Callie's tongue was currently taking against her tongue.

Consciously or not, she really didn't know at this point, Arizona found herself pushing herself into Callie's face in the search for more friction.

Callie chuckled but didn't oblige, instead taking long, lazy strokes up the blonde's folds before flicking and sucking in all the right places. Finally, entered Arizona with her tongue as deep as she could causing a second, smaller orgasm to flood her senses.

Callie made her way back up to Arizona and thrust her tongue deep into her mouth, wanting her to enjoy all the tastes that she had. Eventually, she collapsed against Arizona and leant on her side to face her. "I love you so much" she said earnestly.

Arizona's smiled lazily and patted Callie on the face a couple of times, all the words quite literally having been fucked out of her. After a few minutes of silence Arizona regained some of her composure and turned to face Callie who was softly dozing.

"Let's go to sleep baby," she said as she urged Callie under the duvet who obliged without complaint.

Just as silence engulfed the darkened room once more, Arizona spoke up.

"Calliope?"

"Mmm?"

"I think you can consider Operation Shadowcat a roaring success"

**Thoughts? Next up is the trip to Hopkins for the settlement hearing. **


	20. Chapter 20

**Title**: Chance Encounters  
**Author**: Eek's Bubble  
**Rating**: M  
**Beta**: Arizona3311 – Thank you!  
**Pairings**: Callie/Arizona  
**Disclaimer**: All movies, songs, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual.  
**Summary**: What if Arizona was already an amputee before she met Callie?

**A/N**: Long chapter with lots going on that I probably should have split – sorry about that. Massively Arizona centric too but I felt it needed to be that way. Italics are flashbacks and I have no legal knowledge so plead creative licence. Last but definitely not least, thanks once again for reading and reviewing.

* * *

Today was the day that Arizona and Teddy set off for the trip to Baltimore for the hearing.

The trip to Baltimore via car was forty hours so Teddy and Arizona would be setting off five days early to give them enough time. It wasn't certain how long the hearing would last but advice from the lawyers had suggested about two or three days and then it would be another five days to get back. As Arizona had already made the Chief aware of the hearing when she took the job, he already knew that she would have to take time off at some point to attend. In addition to this, he had given Teddy the time off without any questions.

Callie however, wasn't quite so fortunate. Webber had turned down her request based on the fact that the surgical wing could not manage short of three attendings. Sure Callie understood, it didn't mean she had to like it though. She had thought that Arizona would be upset and she was a little but she recovered well enough. She had said that she would probably revert into her shell for the whole time and that it was best Callie didn't witness that. She promised by the time she was back home, she would be back to her normal self.

She also gave Callie a daily check-list of things to do with her patients in her absence. It was nothing remotely orthopaedic for her to be interested in, instead it was things like, 'get chocolate pudding for room 304 or lime jello for 325'. She also expected daily progress reports on Wallace Anderson. She was type A but Callie wouldn't change a thing.

"Hey" Callie greeted Arizona up in the paediatric ward.

"Hey! This is a nice surprise but I'm just about to start rounds," Arizona explained.

"It's okay, I just wondered if I could steal your key for a couple of hours? I've left some stuff at your place that I'll probably need whilst you're away," Callie couldn't help but scowl when she spoke of Arizona's trip.

"Sure" Arizona said simply as she pulled off the key from the chain and handed it over to Callie. She ignored Callie's scowl as that would mean she would actually have to think about things and if she thought about things, she would never get in that car. "Why don't you keep it until I get back?" she offered, "it doesn't matter that I'm not there, you can still stay or whatever."

"Okay" Callie said, cursing as her pager went off. She made a quick call and then said to Arizona, I have to go help on a surgery. Will I see you before you leave?"

"Probably not" Arizona pouted. "You'll call?" she asked as she placed a surreptitious kiss on Callie's lips quickly.

"So often that you'll get sick of me," Callie promised with a smile.

"Never" Arizona promised back.

* * *

Arizona felt her phone buzz and pulled it out of her jeans pocket to check the message, it was from Callie:

**I have a hypothetical question for you.**

**xCx**

Intrigued, Arizona quickly sent a reply back:

**Okay?**

**xAx**

**If somebody was missing their girlfriend after **

**only being apart for an hour, just how pathetic **

**would that be? **

**xCx**

Arizona grinned to herself:

**I'm missing you too Calliope**

**xAx**

**I have no idea what you're taking about, **

**it was a hypothetical question remember?**

**xCx**

"We haven't even been gone an hour" Teddy commented, "What can you possibly have to say to each other?"

"We never run out of things to say to each other," Arizona responded in such a love struck tone that Teddy didn't know whether she should be feeling jealous or have the need to vomit.

During the brief interruption from Teddy, Arizona had received another message:

**Okay, okay it wasn't hypothetical.**

**I miss you. **

**xCx**

* * *

The journey to Baltimore was _long. _Had she been doing this trip with anyone else other than either Teddy or Callie, Arizona probably would have killed the other person by now.

Arizona had become increasing tetchy as the days wore on, Baltimore and Hopkins looming ever larger on the horizon. By the time they had arrived, they didn't have much time other than to sleep and then make their way over to the hospital first thing in the morning.

Arizona had been pretty much mute all morning and hadn't touched even a bite of breakfast despite Teddy's best attempts. As they entered the hospital, Arizona stopped to take the sight in again, watching as staff, patients and visitors bustled around her. She felt Teddy move besides her but paid no attention until she said,

"Arizona, come and take a look at this," Teddy called from a short distance away.

Arizona looked over to where Teddy stood near the entrance of the hospital. She frowned slightly as she saw her friend looking at some sort of sculpture mounted to the wall that she definitely didn't remember from her years at Hopkins. Making her way over, she felt her breath catch as she studied the sculpture in more detail.

She certainly hadn't expected anything like this.

Hanging on the wall was six replica stethoscopes, although they were much larger than any real stethoscope. On each of the scopes was an inscription:

**Dr. Malcolm Harrison**

**Head of Neurosurgery **

**x**

**Dr. Greg Atherton 1975-2012**

**Head of Trauma Surgery**

**x**

**Dr. Tony Lang**

**General Surgery Attending**

**x**

**Dr. Arizona Robbins**

**Paediatric Surgery Fellow**

**x**

**Dr. Anna DuMaitre 1982-2012**

**Cardiothorasic Surgery Fellow**

**x**

**Dr. Grace Adeoje 1985-2012**

**Surgical Intern **

**x**

Each of the stethoscopes were coloured differently, Arizona immediately recognising the pink on her own inscribed scope to represent her speciality. Blue for neuro, green for trauma, red for cardio, purple for general. Grace, who would never have the chance to have a speciality, had a scope striped with all the colours of the various surgical specialities. Arizona found this fitting, Grace would have excelled in whatever field she would have chosen. Looking further down, she noticed a plaque underneath the stethoscopes that read:

**On May 10****th**** 2012, a plane carrying six surgeons**

**from Johns Hopkins crashed on route to**

**a neighbouring hospital. To the three who**

**lost their lives, may you forever Rest In Peace.**

**To the three who survived but will forever be changed, **

**may the rest of your days be blessed. **

**x**

"**Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark"**

Arizona tried to swallow past the huge lump in her throat. There it was in black and white. The single most catastrophic event of her life surmised into just a few short sentences. A lovely gesture undoubtedly but still... she wasn't sure how she felt about it.

Sensing the myriad of emotions Arizona was feeling, Teddy silently took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"How do you feel about me going for a walk on my own?" Arizona asked carefully. Teddy had come all this way with her and she didn't just want to abandon her in the middle of a hospital but she needed some space to think, to get herself together as much as she could before she sat down with the lawyers in an hour.

Teddy didn't seem to mind at all, "I don't mind at all, the head of OB here is an old friend of mine actually, I might go and track her down. You'll call if you need me though right?" she asked in concern.

Promising that she would, Arizona pointed Teddy in the direction of OB and went off on her own, no real destination in mind. It was no real surprise that as she moved around the hospital on auto pilot, she found herself walking onto the paediatric wing. During her time at Hopkins, she had spent more time on this ward than she had at home.

Peeking her head into the staff lounge that was located near the entrance, she saw that it was empty. She smiled as she remembered how many times she spent in there, whether it was to catch up on paperwork or to grab a quick nap or more often than not in the early days... to change her scrubs after a kid had vomited all over her.

"_Lets go out" Anna urged in her best whiny voice, "I need a girls night out." _

_Arizona barely afforded her friend a glance up from the heap of paperwork she was buried beneath in the lounge. "I can't tonight, I have a big surgery to prepare for and I really need to finish this paper too." _

_Anna grumbled, accepting defeat, "fiiinnee, but I don't why you even bother, I wouldn't if I were you."_

_Arizona looked up in confusion, "what?"_

"_You are eight feet tall" Anna explained, trying not to look too bitter as she said it, "your boobs are perfect. Your hair is down to there. If I were you, I would just walk around naked all the time. I wouldn't have a job, I wouldn't have any skills, I wouldn't even know how to read. I would just be... naked." _

As the two women burst into laughter, the scene dissolved in front of Arizona eyes, left instead to stare at the empty lounge.

"Dr. Robbins you're back!"

Arizona would recognise that voice anywhere. She turned to find a squealing child running towards her as fast as the IV stand she was wheeling along with her would go.

"Why hello there Miss Casey!" Arizona cooed, dropping to her knees to greet her favourite patient with a hug.

As soon as the hug was over, Casey was away. "Momma, momma! Dr. Robbins is back!"

"I can see that" Casey's Mom says whilst brushing the young girls hair out of her face. "Why don't you finish your puzzle and we'll be right in?" Watching Casey toddle back into the room, she stood up, walked up to Arizona and said, "you don't call, you don't write... how are you Arizona?" she asked with a smile.

Arizona found herself breathing a little easier. She hated that she had been so involved in her own suffering that she had left Hopkins without a second thought to those who had been under her care. She was convinced that she would find hostility and anger in the face of the parents and patients who had trusted her instead she got welcomes and smiles.

"You're not mad?" Arizona asked quietly.

Casey's Mom just smiled softly and said, "you fell out of the sky Arizona, if that isn't a good enough reason to be a little self involved for a while, I don't know what is"

"Momma?" Casey asked, popping her head out the doorway, "can Dr. Robbins help me with my puzzle please?"

Casey's Mom looked to Arizona in silent question who in turn looked at her watch and smiled, "I have a little time."

* * *

An hour later, Teddy and Arizona walked in silence towards the conference rooms where the victims or their proxies would be meeting with the lawyers. Opening the door, Arizona saw that the room was already considerably full of people she knew. On one side of the table, Hopkins' Chief of Surgery was there in support of his staff, there was the woman she recognised as Greg Atherton's wife, having met her a few times. Malcolm was there too, as was an African American woman who looked to be in her late fifties, given the resemblance, this had to be Grace's mother. On the other side of the table she was introduced to Anna's father and she said her hellos to Tony's sister who she knew from radiology. She took the empty seat next to Tony, who out of all her acquaintances in the room, looked to be a shadow of his former self.

He just looked so different, his appearance so stark in comparison to his former looks. His usual immaculate appearance had been swapped with hair that was dull and longer than Arizona had even seen it, his whole face was gaunt due to the amount of weight he had lost and he was in desperate need of a shave. It was his eyes that Arizona noticed the most, like the life in them had died out in the woods with Anna.

The atmosphere in the room was sombre. Even though almost every person in the room would forever be connected by this one common thread, not one of them could think of a thing to say to each other. This made Arizona sad, for Tony especially, he had been a good friend once upon a time.

As the two lawyers entered the room, the tension became palpable as Arizona herself struggled to reign in her emotions and curb her impulse to flee. Comfort came at her from both sides, Teddy who squeezed her knee, whilst Tony took a gentle hold of her hand underneath the table. Perhaps it was more for his own comfort than her own but it nevertheless gave Arizona hope that all was not lost for the man she once knew.

Buoyed by this, she listened as the lawyers revealed that the charter company had submitted their offer to settle out of court. The offer was considerable but they were all agreed on one thing – if the charter company was negligent, then they all had a duty to make sure that this didn't happen to anyone else. So they declined the offer and the case was due to be heard the following day at 9am. The lawyers had put a schedule together in anticipation of this, this morning, they would re-familiarise the victims and their proxies with the details of the case and the avenues the lawyers were hoping to take. The afternoon would be spent with the victims on an individual basis in order to prepare them for the case the defence had put together.

For the next two hours, they listened to the case that had been put together, occasionally someone would ask a question. Next they moved on the award that the lawyers would be arguing a case for.

"We have used the information gathered over the last few month to monetise your injuries..." the first lawyer began.

"How do you do that?" Malcolm asked.

"We use a formula" the second lawyer said simply. "Your medical bills, pain and suffering, your future medical bills, plus loss of income plus lost earning capacity plus any other foreseeable harms. All in all, we're looking at a very sizeable award". The lawyer looked almost gleeful. Ignoring the looks of disgust from people around the table (apart from Tony who still looked vacant), he ploughed ahead, handing out files to be examined.

Arizona looked felt a little queasy as she opened her own file and read the opening page.

**Name: Dr. Arizona Robbins**

**D.O.B: 11.5.1979**

**Injuries sustained: PE and Open Fracture to the Left Leg resulting in above the knee amputation. *Full medical report in Appendix A***

**Lost Earnings: $166,398**

**Medical Costs to date: $191,106**

**Estimated future medical costs: $1,509,275**

**Pain & Suffering: $3,564,567**

**Foreseeable harms (adapted housing, transportation, mobility equipment etc.) $2,876,458**

***Detailed report in Appendix B***

**Total proposed award: $8,307,804**

Paying no mind to the potential award coming her way, Arizona closed the file. She was finding increasingly difficult to breath. The irony that a doctor found this too clinical was not lost on her but that was exactly how she felt. The idea that such a thing could be formulated so efficiently... like punching a few numbers into a computer and voilà, the cost has quite literally been counted.

Seeing that Tony had closed the file too, she looked over at him. His expression again revealed nothing but his fists were clenched together so tightly that his knuckles were white. Placing her hand over one of Tony's, Arizona turned to the lawyers and asked, "Can we maybe take a break? I think some of us might need some time to process this"

"Of course" the two lawyers said together. "That wraps up what we wanted to get sorted this morning anyway. Why don't we take a break for lunch and we'll call you back one by one to go over your testimonies?"

After everyone agreed, Teddy and Arizona made their way over to the cafeteria to grab some lunch, Arizona's afternoon appointment with the lawyers would be the last one so they had a good few hours to spare. As they reached the cafeteria, Teddy offered to go and get the lunch whilst Arizona found a table. She couldn't help but look over at the table she and her friends used to frequent. She saw it was empty but steered clear of it all the same.

"_I reminded you before I went" Anna huffed as she plopped down next to Arizona whilst Tony took a seat next to Greg in the cafeteria. _

_Tony just kind of shrugged in response, "I forgot when I got there". Upon being stared down by his girlfriend, it didn't take him long to cave, "Men don't buy tampons!" he exclaimed. Looking around to the men at the table for moral support, he added, "Are you guys going to back me up or not?"_

_Greg and Malcolm looked across the table to find not one but three pissed looking women staring back. Malcolm slapped Tony on the back as he picked up his tray to leave and said, "sorry buddy, you're on your own with this one"_

"Arizona sweetie? Are you okay?" Teddy asked gently as she set the food trays down, her friend had been staring into the distance.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, she looked up and smiled a thanks at Teddy, "Sorry, I'm in my own little world today."

Teddy nodded that she understood, "what do you want to do until we have to go back upstairs?" she asked although she already knew the answer. Sparing her friend from the discomfort of having to tell her to leave her alone for the second time that day, she said, "because my friend in OB who I told you about? Well she's performing a tetralogy of fallot repair on an eight month year old and I thought you might want to observe?" Teddy knew that Arizona would have no interest at this moment in time but it gave her an opportunity to suggest that Teddy went along without having to feel guilty about want to be alone.

"I'm not really up for it but you should go for sure," Arizona suggested, true to Teddy's prediction.

"Are you sure?" Teddy asked.

"I insist" Arizona said, "Besides, I think I'm going to have a wander."

* * *

An hour later, Teddy and Arizona separated, Teddy to observe a surgery she could do in her sleep (which Arizona knew and was even more grateful to her best-friend because of it), whilst Arizona meandered aimlessly about for a while. Stepping in the elevator, she pondered which button to press and ended up on the roof. She used to come her after a tough case so she could think and de-stress, or occasionally have a cigarette if things were really bad.

Pulling her jacket around her to keep the cold at bay, she reached into her pocket for her cell phone and called Callie.

"Hi, you've reached the voice mail of Callie Torres, leave a message and I'll get back to you"

She was probably in surgery or something Arizona thought but as she hadn't been able to get hold of her all day, she was a little worried. Wanting to check everything was okay, she called Amelia.

"Hey" Amelia answered in a rushed voice before she barked orders at whoever it was she was with. "Listen, I'm sorry Arizona I know you're probably having a seriously crappy day but there was a school shooting this morning and we're absolutely slammed."

"That's okay," Arizona said quickly. "I just wanted to check if you were okay."

"I'm fine" Amelia said as she read between the lines, "Callie is fine too, she was trying to save an arm last time I checked."

Arizona thanked Amelia before making her promise to give her regular updates, a school shooting meant that her paeds ward would be full to the brim and yet she was, the best part of three thousand miles away, left to feel completely useless.

She was stewing on this as she surveyed the landscape in front of her, it never failed to calm her.

"What did you learn today Dr. Robbins?" a voice asked, ringing out in the silence.

Arizona didn't have to look up to know who was asking the question. Through every single paediatric case of her internship and residency and then every day of her fellowship, she was asked the same question by the same man.

"_Evan Laing, sixteen, second and third degree burns on over sixty percent of his body" the __paediatric surgeon on call recited to the plastic surgeon who had just walked into the ER. Turning to Arizona, Dr. McHale shouted, "hey, Robbins, come over when you're done because we need hands." _

_A fire in a hotel was the cause of tonight's chaos and Arizona was dealing with patient after patient. As an intern, this was her first full scale trauma. Finishing up on what felt like the dozenth patient, she made her way over to Dr. McHale as ordered. Even in her short career thus far, Arizona had seen a lot of things that would turn the average person's stomach into goo and there was quite a lot of smells that she could fit into that category too. None of that, along with any of her medical training prepared her for the smell that hit her with such force as she entered the room that she physically had to turn away and fight back the overwhelming urge to vomit as wave after wave of bile wandered up to her throat. Nobody else in the room looked in the slightest bit affected as McHale spoke calmly to the boy, telling him exactly what was happening. _

_Arizona could barely open her mouth as she worked on the boy alongside the two attendings who were doing their best to calm him as every fibre of his being shook with pain and tears. As the plastic surgeon performed an escharotomy on the patients arm, slicing through the full thickness burns, Arizona couldn't stop her own tears from falling as he cried out in pain. When the doctors noticed this, things only got worse for Arizona. _

"_Dr. Robbins" McHale said quietly as the woman in front of him struggled to regulate her breathing. "Step out and come back when you have got it together." _

_Arizona didn't need to be told twice as she practically fled from the room. _

_Some time later, Arizona had finished on another case and was left babysitting the patient's son when McHale came storming towards her._

"_What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked incredulously._

"_Oh, I have to sit with him until his Dad comes. I left him alone before," she explained, indicating to the child she was sat next to. _

"_No, you left him!" McHale raged as he pointed towards the door where the burn victim he had been working on all night was. Quickly finding another minder for the child, he beckoned Arizona to follow him. Stopping outside the room, he turned back to her, "You left him alone? What were you thinking?!"_

"_I'm.. I'm sorry, I.. I feel like..." she stuttered._

"_No, you don't get to feel anything! Because he's feeling everything, his every nerve is exposed and raw and we have to make him feel worse before he's gonna feel better. So, if you're having feelings, then you need to shut them down. You need to shut them down and talk to him about his future and remind him that he has one, past all of this pain. And if you can't do that, if you can't do your job, then you find someone who can and you send them to me." _

_And with that he was gone, leaving Arizona with much to think about. _

_More than twelve hours later they were all still there, a patient had died after a basic medical examination was missed. Arizona had no part in any of that though because after a full ten minute pep talk to herself, she had walked back into that room and stayed with Evan all evening and right into his surgery. That is where McHale found her all that time later, sitting next to his bed on the post-op ward. _

_Leaning against the doorway, he asked, "what did you learn today Dr. Robbins?"_

"I don't have anything for you today" Arizona responded as she turned to face the Head of Paediatric Surgery and her long time mentor, Dr. Norman McHale.

"The day is young, we have time yet," he responded confidently as he stepped forwards to embrace the woman in a strong hug. Pulling back and surveying her, he smiled widely, "it is so very, very good to see you Arizona. You look better than I could ever have imagined."

Arizona responded with her own dimpled smile, "I'm good now, better."

"I'm very glad to hear it" McHale responded genuinely, "now..." he said as he held the door open for Arizona, "...why don't you let me buy you a cup of coffee and a doughnut, I remember how much you like them, and you can tell me what exactly it is going to take for me to convince you to come back for good..."

* * *

Later that day Teddy and Arizona were finishing up with the testimonial. It had been hard on both of them. Teddy who had only ever received snippets of the story now knew everything that her best-friend had gone through in those woods and Arizona had to relive it all over again once more.

"You did great Dr. Robbins" the lawyer said as he closed his file. "There is just one last thing, I'm sure you will remember Dr. Andrew Perkins. He is available to any of the victims or their proxies should you wish to talk with him about anything." The lawyer got up and opened the door and motioned for Dr. Perkins to come in.

Arizona remembered him alright, Dr. Perkins was the trauma councillor that Hopkins had brought in to council the victims of the crash. She blushed as she shook his offered hand, mumbling her own greeting. She hadn't been at her best when they had met and she may or may not have been quite abusive towards him, she may also have thrown a vase at the window in her hospital room. What she couldn't understand was why Teddy, who was standing next to her wore her own blush to rival Arizona's.

"It's good to see you again Arizona" he said as he shook her hand. He then turned and greeted Teddy by name also, further confusing Arizona. To her knowledge, they had never met.

Arizona politely declined the offer of a therapy session and left the room with Teddy close behind. Immediately she question her, "what was all that about?"

"What?" Teddy said, attempting to look politely confused but the deep blush still present on her face kind of gave her away.

Arizona smirked for the first time today, "How is it the hot, _hot _trauma councillor knows you on a first name basis?" she asked.

"Why do you think?" Teddy hissed.

"I think it's because you've seen the hot, _hot _trauma councillor naked" Arizona responded wickedly, feeling lighter than she had done since they set out on this trip.

It turned out Arizona was right. Teddy and Andrew had met whilst he was counselling injured war veterans at a military camp she was based at right before she was honourably discharged.

"Well" Arizona said, spying Perkins as he left the room himself, clearly in search of Teddy, "he clearly wouldn't mind a repeat performance if you ask me". She nodded in his direction, causing Teddy to turn around to see him walking towards them. "You go" she coaxed, "I have something I need to do anyway". Sensing the hesitation in her friend, she gave her a slight push, "Go! God knows it's about time you got laid."

She watched the two talk for a moment before heading off towards radiology, she doubted that Tony's sister would be working but she thought she would still try. Knocking on the door to the main office she pushed it open to find a woman she knew only by name, "Hi Ellen, I take it Karen isn't working tonight?" she asked.

Ellen shook her head, "No, she's been with Tony all day at the... well you know..." she tailed off uncomfortably. "I can call her cell if you like?"

This time it was Arizona who shook her head, "no it's okay I was just hoping that she would know where I could find Tony."

"He'll be at Ivan's" Ellen said, referring to the bar a few blocks away that was popular with the hospital staff. "He's there every night" she added sadly, "he doesn't talk to anyone though Dr. Robbins, not even Karen and I'm sure you know how close they were."

Arizona just thanked her and left, again just walking around the hospital. She didn't know if she had it in her to go to Ivan's, a place that held host to such memories for her over the years. Being at Hopkins was testing enough for her right at this moment.

Instead, her legs carried her to the section of the hospital where the operating rooms were. These were the rooms where she had become a surgeon, the thrill of the cut was like nothing else. Moving towards OR3, Arizona took a seat in the empty gallery. it was just an appendectomy after all, nobody watches those apart from the intern appy. She smiled slightly as she remembered being the fellow who got to oversee the intern appy one year in this very OR.

"_More pressure. The flesh is a tough shell, dig in" Arizona instructed the nervous intern._

"_Pickups" the young doctor requested, "clamp". "I'm there" she said and Arizona could see her visibly relax._

_Big mistake, Arizona thought as she continued to watch the procedure over the intern's shoulder._

"_Appendix is out," Grace confirmed. _

"_Not bad" Arizona said, knowing what was more than likely to come next as the intern prematurely thanked her. "Now all you have to do, is invert the stump into the cecum and simultaneously pull up on the per strings but be careful not to..." Arizona paused as she watched the intern pull to hard, "...break them". Too late. "You ripped the cecum! You've got a bleeder, filling with stool. What do you do now?" she asked calmly._

_The intern was freezing like they all do, "Um, I, uh..."_

"_Think," Arizona commanded, when she still received no response she began instructing instead, "start the suction and start digging around for those per strings before she bleeds to death."_

_She watched for a moment more as the nurse handed the intern a clamp but then the patients BP started dropping. _

"_Today!" Arizona shouted, "lets go, what are you waiting for?!" Upon receiving notification from the anaesthesiologist that the BP was getting too low, she barged the intern out of the way and took control herself, all the while shouting at the intern to get the hell out of her OR. _

_Having stabilised the patient quickly and finished the procedure, she spent the few hours in surgery on an emergency case that had come in from the ER. Finally finished for the day, she changed in the locker room and went to drop off a few files before heading home. As she stepped out into the cool night air, she saw the intern from earlier sitting on a bench in the distance looking deep in contemplation. Walking over she saw that the girl had been crying._

"_The intern appy is a test" she said, startling the young doctor. "It's designed to make you fail."_

_The intern just nodded but looked no less comforted. _

"_What did you learn today?" Arizona asked._

"_Pardon?" the intern questioned. Arizona repeated the question._

_Thinking for a moment, the intern replied, "That there is no room for panic in an OR, if you make a mistake, think about how to fix it and not dwell on the actual mistake"_

_It was Arizona's turn as she began to nod, turning back she said to the intern, "The intern appy tests how you recover, you can show me how well you bounce back tomorrow and for the rest of the week on my service."_

"_Thank you Dr. Robbins."_

_Arizona just shrugged it off, "rounds start at 6am – what's your name?"_

"_Grace Adeoje" the doctor replied._

"_I'll see you in the morning then Dr. Adeoje"_

* * *

Back in Seattle, things were finally starting to settle down. The shooting at the school had brought the whole hospital together as they worked tirelessly. Now, dozens of doctors sat in the gallery of OR5 as Bailey closed on the last patient from the school. They had saved them all and for that, they were grateful.

"Why don't you get yourself on the next plane to Baltimore Torres" the Chief suggested.

"Chief?" Callie questioned.

"You've earned a few days off if you ask me. I'm just suggesting that you spend a few of those days in Baltimore. If only to make sure Bob Franks at Hopkins doesn't lure my Heads of Cardio and Paediatrics away"

Callie looked momentarily delighted before she remembered her promise to Arizona. So instead of heading off to the airport she found herself saying, "Thanks Chief, but I promised Arizona that I'd take care of a few things here. She's become so invested in the Anderson case."

* * *

Back in Baltimore, Arizona entered Ivan's. It was relatively quiet with just a handful of patrons and Tony was easy to spot as he stared into his drink from his seat at the bar. She walked over and took a seat next to him.

"What's your poison?" Tony asked, barely looking up from the glass of scotch he was cradling in his hands.

"Vodka and coke please," she replied softly, she deserved a drink right now of that much she was sure.

"Ivan!" Tony spoke up, "a vodka and coke for my fair-weather friend over here". "Not that I blame you" he added, "isn't it funny how one bad thing can cloud all the best things that have ever happened in a place?" he mused, "you did the right thing Arizona."

Arizona didn't responded to Tony's drunken ramblings, nor did she question why he was choosing to open up to her above anyone else. She already knew the answer to that. They had both irrevocably lost something in the woods and it was certainly a tie that binds.

"She was it for me" he said horsely, throwing back another drink. "I don't know how to exist in a world where she doesn't."

"Are you sleeping?" she asked, remembering how difficult it had been for her.

Tony laughed bitterly, "they say I drink too much, but if I don't drink I don't sleep."

"Come with me" Arizona instructed, she couldn't do much to help but she knew of one thing that would help for sure.

Tony looked at her quizzically, "if this is some sort of intervention, then you can get in line behind my Mom and my sister."

"No intervention" she promised in the same soft tone she had used throughout the entire conversation. She just took his hand and led him out of the bar and back towards the hospital and he followed without further question. Stopping outside one of the most out of the way on-call rooms in the hospital, she pulled him gently inside and locked the door behind him.

"What're you doing?" Tony asked as Arizona moved over to lie on the bed.

"Don't worry" Arizona quipped lightly, "I'm still gold star. Now come and lie with me" She waited in silence for what felt like an age before Tony made the decision to join her and as he did, she wrapped him into the strongest, most comforting embrace that she could manage for a man so much taller and stockier than she was.

They led that way for a few minutes until Tony finally un-tensed and relaxed into Arizona's hug. And once he had done that, that was it. His whole body shook as the floodgates opened, breaking down as the tears flowed freely and unashamedly.

Arizona didn't do anything more than whisper a few soothing words and just allow him to cry as he clung so desperately onto her. This went on for some time until his breathing became less ragged and he eventually drifted off into, what Arizona hoped, would be a restful sleep.

Technically, if you were to go by the medical records alone, they would tell you that Arizona had suffered the most severe of injuries out of the three victims who had survived. And whilst this was true medically, for Arizona would live with challenges for the rest of her life whilst Tony and Malcolm had suffered only minor injuries – she could no longer bring herself to feel as though she was the worst off. As she watched Tony sleep, she thought how this unwanted title did and always had, been firmly set on Tony's door.

Physical injuries heal, she thought to herself. Do emotional injuries ever really heal? Sure we can learn from them, move on, but do they ever really leave us? Tony's soul was broken. A part of him had died out in those woods with Anna and what would ever be able to heal something quite that ruinous? It made Arizona wonder how she could ever have felt so full of such self-pity for her own situation when Tony's was clearly so much darker. She knew the answer to her own question in a heartbeat.

Callie.

Sure, she had felt love before but until she had met Callie, she had never fully appreciate just how all consuming love really could be. Tony and Anna had had that themselves and now that love that had consumed them was threatening to consume Tony.

As she thought of Tony, she couldn't help but think of Callie and how it would feel to lose her in such a way. Her heart ached at such a thought, so much so that she could barely draw breath as she blinked back the tears. Moving blindly from the bed to the door as fast as she could without waking Tony, she pulled out her phone as she did so. The voice she so desperately needed to hear picked up after just a few seconds.

"Callie" Arizona sobbed into the phone. "I need you."

* * *

"I got here as quickly as I could" Callie panted. She wasn't exaggerating either, as soon as she had received that strangled call from Arizona, she had bolted to the Chief's office, yelled something only vaguely coherent about taking up his offer of a few days off after all and then made her way to the airport after a short detour to her place to pack a bag. Much to her frustration, she couldn't get a flight straight away and had to wait on standby for a seat to open up. Finally in the early hours she boarded a flight to Baltimore, arriving five hours later at 11am local time.

She already knew that court was in session at 9am so she jumped in a cab and went straight to the court house. Only when she arrived, she found a new case in session. As Arizona wasn't answering, she called Teddy who said very little, other than to give her details of the hotel they were at.

Teddy surveyed the Latina, who looked frazzled to say the least. "She'll be glad you're here," she said.

"Where is she?" Callie asked, wondering why Teddy was sitting in the hotel bar, eating alone.

"She's in her room, she wanted to be alone," Teddy explained. "I don't think you count though so go on up"

Callie nodded and stood, hesitating slightly she said, "what happened with the hearing?"

Teddy just shook her head.

"Arizona?" Callie called softly as she knocked on the door, "its me". She waited a few moments before the door swung open to reveal her girlfriend. Callie observed that she looked okay, much better than she had sounded on the phone last night. Today she didn't appear to show any emotion and this scared Callie far more than any of the crying that had occurred the night before.

Arizona just stepped into her embrace, content just to remain there, in the middle of an open doorway. "You came" she said simply.

"Of course" Callie responded softly. There was never any question in her mind.

"How do you feel about having a sugar momma?" Arizona mumbled into Callie's neck.

"I'm kind of stuck on you to be honest" Callie answered, unsure of Arizona's motives for such a question.

Arizona pulled back and looked at Callie, who's eyes were full to the brim with only concern and love. "We won" she said simply and in a shell shocked tone. "the judge threw out the defence's case, he said that the charter company had a history of mechanical failures. It's over." Although she said all this to Callie, it felt more like she was telling herself. It was over.

Callie still felt a little like she was walking on egg shells and asked tentatively, "that's good right?". "I mean, not good... but the best you could have hoped for under the circumstances? People will know now, this might prevent this happening again to other people"

Arizona just nodded. "Callie?"

"Mmm?"

"The award was fifteen million dollars."

"Woah."

"Each."

Callie's eyes almost bugged out of her head. She didn't have a clue what to say to that so decided to try and lighten up the mood, "well" she said, "just remember that I loved you before you were a multi-millionaire."

* * *

Arizona made one final trip to the hospital, this time with Callie. She needed to sign some paperwork with the lawyers and then she was free to go back to Seattle. Arizona had surprised then all by asking Callie to accompany her on a flight back home, she was nervous, petrified even. But not so long ago, the events caused by getting on a plane and resulted in her leaving her patients behind and fleeing the state. She now had patients who needed her desperately in Seattle and she would be dammed if she was going to let a plane stop her for a second time.

She had also talked Teddy into staying a few days longer although the only thing she would say to Callie about it was 'hot, _hot _trauma councillor'.

As McHale walked both Callie and Arizona to the exit, Arizona stopped and said, "Norman, do you think you could entertain my girl for a little while? There is one last place I'd like to visit". When Norman showed no objection, she gave Callie a reassuring smile before she turned towards her final destination.

"Have you had yours yet Dr. Torres?" McHale asked Callie as they both took a seat.

"My what sir?"

"Your star student."

"Oh" Callie laughed, "No, Orthopaedics is kind of a vocation, most see it as..."

"Carpentry" McHale finished with a nod. "Then you should look harder, show your passion, I can tell that you have that in abundance. Because let me tell you, you will teach many young doctors over the course of your career, but when you find that one – and you only get the one. That's special. Arizona was mine and I am so incredibly proud to say that I played even a tiny part in shaping her as a doctor and a person. You keep hold of her."

"I intend to," Callie said with a mega-watt smile.

* * *

As Arizona reached the locker room for the interns, she walked in and sat down on one of the benches. This is where it had all started for her.

"_Only six women out of twenty" Arizona said to the woman changing next to her as she did a quick count._

"_Yeah, I hear one of them is a model" the woman supplied. "Seriously, like that's going to help with the respect thing?" she added disdainfully. _

_Arizona too had heard this rumour and had thought for a moment that the model might be the woman she was speaking to, she was certainly hot enough she observed. "You're Amelia right?" she asked as she stood, receiving an affirmative she said, "I'm Arizona". Nothing further was said as they were assigned to their residents._

"_DuMaitre, Lang, Robbins, Shepherd!"_

* * *

"What are you guys talking about?" Arizona asked as she re-joined Callie and McHale.

"You" they both supplied causing the blonde to roll her eyes.

Saying their goodbyes, Callie and Arizona turned to leave for the airport before McHale called out, for one last time,

"What did you learn today Dr. Robbins?"

Arizona turned to respond, "quite a few things."

"I'm listening," he encouraged.

"That I miss my friends so much sometimes that I can barely breathe, that I am so incredibly fortunate in so may ways and that the odds of being in a plane crash twice is about one in thirty trillion. And yes, I did google that last one."

"You know, you wouldn't have to get on a plane at all if you stayed here. Just say the word Arizona and an attending position is yours. You'd be a shoe in for my spot as head of department after I retire," Norman coaxed.

Arizona just shook her head, "I'll always be so grateful for the opportunity Hopkins gave me... but this place will always hold some of the darkest moments of my life, even the great ones are just too overwhelming now. Besides..." Arizona added with a smile as she pulled Callie closer to her, "things in Seattle are pretty great."

"Good answer" Callie staged whispered.

"Well" Norman conceded ruefully, "if you would have asked me last year if I thought Seattle Grace would have the chance of becoming one of the top hospitals for paediatric surgery in the country, I would have laughed. Now I think that might be a very distinct possibility, I hope Richard Webber knows how lucky he is to have you."

"We all know how lucky we are to have her" Callie said. And with that they left Hopkins and left Baltimore.

* * *

"Dr. Robbins?" an intern said as he entered the OR holding a scrub mask over his face.

"What is it Brooks? I'm elbow deep in a chest cavity right now" Both Arizona and Callie, much to the latter's chagrin, had come straight to the hospital after the flight from Baltimore.

"Dr. Torres said it was essential I gave this to you before you went home" the intern explained.

"Well, that's not going to be for a while. Dammit! Clamp please... suction... just leave it over there please"

Three hours later, Arizona was scrubbing out. She had managed to repair most of the damage but would probably have to go back in again in a day or so. Grabbing the envelope from Callie that the intern opened she tore it open to reveal her house key and a note:

**Thought you might be needing this **

Arizona smiled. She had completely forgotten about the key and would have just gone home without it. Wiping her name off the board, she briefly thought of seeking Callie out for a goodnight kiss but that thought didn't go very far when she saw that she was in surgery already. Instead she made her way over to post-op to write up some final instructions before heading home for the night.

Callie was exhausted, her surgery had ran long and she just wanted to crawl into bed. She wasn't even sure if she could make it to Arizona's and instead thought about just crashing at her own place for the night. No. She wasn't that tired. Moving into the attendings lounge to change as quickly as she could, she saw an envelope taped to her locker. Seeing that it was addressed to Calliope, she immediately knew that it was from Arizona. Opening the envelope she saw Arizona's house key stuck to a piece of paper with the blonde's familiar scrawl:

**Why don't you just keep it?**


	21. Chapter 21

**Title**: Chance Encounters  
**Author**: Eek's Bubble  
**Rating**: M  
**Beta**: Arizona3311 – Thank you!  
**Pairings**: Callie/Arizona  
**Disclaimer**: All movies, songs, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual.  
**Summary**: What if Arizona was already an amputee before she met Callie?

**A/N**: This chapter takes place around six weeks after the last one ended. Thanks for all the follows/favourites/reads and reviews. Its all massively appreciated. Credit for McSmiley goes to Arizona3311, along with all the other great stuff she brings to the table. Also, just to avoid confusion, I've changed my LJ user name so it is the same as it is on FF.

* * *

Arizona was sitting alone in the cafeteria, geekishly engrossed in a medical journal whilst eating her breakfast when the sound of a chair scrapping across the floor next to her diverted her attention. Derek had taken a seat right next to her, he hadn't said anything in greeting, and in fact he hadn't said anything at all. Instead, he was just looking... no, smiling at her in a way that could only be described as very 'McDreamy' like. Arizona was starting to get a little unsettled by it all.

"You okay there Derek?" she asked in an attempt to break the weird silence.

"Hi" he said jovially, "you look pretty today."

Arizona looked down at her attire. Crinkled scrubs.

"Is there something I can do for you?" she asked slowly.

"Well..." Derek said as he dove right in, "it's funny you should ask but I was wondering if you were busy tonight? I checked the schedule and saw that you're not working", he then plastered his McDreamy smile back on as he patiently waited for a response.

Arizona felt like she had unknowingly stepped into some sort of alternate universe where she wasn't gay and Derek Shepherd was asking her out on a date. They would then get married and have lots of children with creepy perfect hair and dimples. No, there had to be another reason.

"Just dinner with Callie at home" she replied casually. Their schedules had been conflicted this week and Arizona was looking forward to them being able to spend some time together. Being without Callie for a prolonged period of time made her cranky.

"I don't suppose I could ask a favour could I?" Derek asked, cutting right to the chase. "It's just that its' mine and Meredith's anniversary tonight and I'd really like to take her out for the night, maybe stay at a hotel but Meredith won't leave Zola with anyone overnight. But I have a feeling she'd struggle to argue against having the one of the best paediatric surgeons in the country looking after our daughter. Even better if Torres is around, she's great with kids." Before Arizona could think of responding, out came the McDreamy smile again.

Arizona had to laugh at this, "you know I'm gay right? Your McDreamy smile doesn't work on me."

If anything, Derek's smile just got bigger.

It worked a little bit.

"Fine!" Arizona sighed dramatically as she pulled put out her phone to text Callie, "I suppose spending the evening with the cutest baby ever wouldn't be the worst thing."

* * *

"I need a favour," Cristina said as she dropped unceremoniously into the seat next to Callie in the cafeteria and proceeded to steal her fries.

"Well hello to you too" Callie replied sarcastically as she put down her iPad and recovered her lunch. "What do you need?"

"Owen asked me to move in with him so I did. This was three weeks ago."

Callie scrunched her nose in confusion, "I was there yesterday afternoon and all of your stuff is still there and Arizona gave me a cheque from you just yesterday."

"Well this is where the favour come in" Cristina explained, "if Owen asks, I've moved in but between you me and the gate post, I'll be keeping the apartment."

Callie once upon a time might have questioned the wisdom of that decision but had long since learnt to leave her be with things like this.

"I mean you won't have to lie exactly... more like manipulate the truth."

Callie wasn't in the mood to argue. Her and Arizona had been on different shifts all week and the first night off that they had together, the blonde had agreed to babysit. She loved kids and Zola was adorable but time with her girlfriend had been precious this week and now this would cut into that time even further. Not to mention the great big elephant in the room that had arrived at Arizona's house six weeks ago. They weren't talking about that though, Arizona had made that perfectly clear.

* * *

"Hey" Arizona greeted her girlfriend happily when she got home for the evening. She sauntered into the kitchen where Callie was cooking a casserole. She wrapped her arms around the Latina's back and dropped a sweet kiss on her shoulder. "I missed you," she said softly.

Callie murmured something indistinct in response as she turned to put some things back into the fridge. In the process, she accidentally knocked a piece of paper that had been stuck to the fridge with a magnet. Making a big display of picking it up off the floor, she said in a fake high-pitched voice, "oops! Would you look at that?" Her voice became harder as she completed the sentence, "I've just dropped a $15 million dollar cheque. $15 million dollars Arizona!"

Arizona just rolled her eyes as she took the cheque from Callie and stuck it back on this fridge. "We aren't talking about that damn cheque again," she warned.

"Fine" Callie relented, "but you can't bury your head in the sand forever."

"God Callie! I've had such a long week and I was looking forward to having a nice dinner with my girlfriend, let's not ruin it by talking about the cheque!"

"It makes me nervous having it in the house!" Callie countered.

"It's my house! I'm not forcing you to be here."

Callie stopped abruptly as she felt the sting of Arizona's words, "I know it's your house," she said quietly.

Arizona sighed, running a weary hand through blonde tresses as she took a step towards Callie. "I'm sorry Callie I didn't mean that. I _love _having you here and wouldn't want you to be anywhere else. I just felt a bit ambushed is all, the minute I walked though the door you were on my back about the cheque. I know its been sitting there for six weeks but I'll deposit it in my own time. Can you be okay with that? Please?"

"Of course, I'm sorry I pushed you about it. This week has just sucked is all" she said as she pulled the smaller woman into a hug. "Why don't we eat before Meredith and Derek arrive with Zola?"

* * *

The next morning, Callie and Arizona slid into the staff meeting fifteen minutes late luckily their tardiness went unnoticed by the Chief who was already in full flow.

"What did we miss?" Arizona whispered to Bailey.

Bailey opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Callie.

"We'd know if you'd just put the stupid tights on her," she huffed.

Arizona didn't look in the slightest bit bothered by the glare Callie was fixing her with, "I was talking her into it okay? She was getting on board."

"She's a two year old, she doesn't have to be on board, she has to be in day-care. So you pick her up and you yank the tights on."

"Okay that might be the way you choose to do things but I don't think I should have to point out that when you did that, Zola cried!"

"She only cried because you wasted all that time cajoling her so I had to be the bad cop."

Their evening with Zola had gone very well. She had eaten her dinner without any problems and then they had played and read her stories until she fell asleep in Callie's arms. She had gotten a little fussy in the middle of the night when she woke up in unfamiliar surroundings but Arizona was able to get her down again with little effort. This morning hadn't been _quite_ the roaring success that the night before had been. Even though Meredith had warned her about Zola's aversion to getting dressed in the morning, nothing could have prepared them for the full on temper tantrum the two year old had thrown in the face of a pair of lilac tights. Both women had their own views on the way to handle said tantrum and what with last night's argument not quite forgotten, tensions were running a little higher than usual.

* * *

Having wordlessly agreed to give each other some space, this became harder and harder to do throughout the day as they were on a case together.

Callie walked briskly over to Arizona and Alex who were standing near the admin desk on the paediatric ward staring into one of the patient rooms with looks of trepidation on their faces. "Has she moved yet?" she asked the pair, taking her own brief look at the door.

"What do you think?" Alex asked, as though Callie had asked the most stupid question in the world.

"Is her Mom here?" Arizona asked. "She's nicer when her Mom's here."

"She had to leave for work," Callie supplied.

"You sure the kid didn't eat her?" Alex asked, causing Arizona to smirk and Callie to huff.

"You guys stop. She's angry. She's thirteen. She had a double hip replacement. You'd be angry too", Callie said.

Neither Arizona nor Alex looked particularly moved by this.

"She's mean," Arizona whined.

"Like a badger," Alex chipped in.

"She's three days post-op now" Callie said, "If she doesn't move her hips we're looking at clots, contractures, poor recovery. We're just going to have to make her do it for her own good" she added firmly. When Arizona just nodded thoughtfully whilst looking at the door, Callie let out a bark of a laugh, "oh, look who I'm talking to, can't even put a toddler in tights."

"Huh? Oh! Well, why don't you show me how a bad cop does it?" Arizona challenged with a smile.

Callie looked for a moment as though she might accept that challenge but then looked towards to door and thought better of it. _That kid really was mean. _"Karev, get in there," she commanded instead.

"Why me?" Alex asked indignantly.

"We're attendings, you're a resident, it's an order." she said in the same commanding tone. Leading Arizona away, she said quietly, "That's how a bad cop does it."

* * *

Later that day, Arizona went in search of Callie, she found her talking to Owen as they discussed the OR board which was looking packed.

"Hey" Arizona said to the pair of them as she approached before saying to Callie, "my evening surgery got pushed so I'm not going to get out of here until at least ten. I think we're going to have to cancel our reservations tonight. That's if you still were planning on us using them?" she asked meekly, unsure just how big their argument was to Callie.

They had plans to celebrate their six-month anniversary that evening. In fact, their six-month anniversary had been three weeks ago but one highway pile up, two emergency appendectomies and a flat tyre had scuppered their multiple attempts to celebrate.

"Of course I was planning on us using them. We'll get to have our celebration eventually," Callie assured her a little more warmly than she would usually do when they were in the hospital. "We might just be celebrating one year together instead," she added with a teasing smile.

"How are you Owen?" Arizona asked, not wanting to leave the trauma surgeon out of the conversation.

"I'm good" he said with a smile, "Cristina moved in with me a few weeks ago, although you two will already know that of course."

Callie just nodded along, not looking in the slightest bit surprised by this news but Arizona was confused. "Cristina moved in with you?" she asked.

"Yeah" Owen responded, a slight frown creasing his forehead, "you didn't know?"

Arizona, who was just about to respond that she didn't know, was suddenly firmly but surreptitiously kicked in the leg by Callie in an effort to silence her. Unfortunately for Callie, she had stupidly and momentarily forgotten that Arizona was amputee and had kicked her in the prosthesis, causing the blonde woman to fall forwards. Owen had managed to catch her but still...

"God, Arizona I am so sorry!" Callie exclaimed with a look of horror. This wasn't helped by the fact that Owen was giving her an equally horrified look.

"It's fine" Arizona mumbled as Owen set her back upright.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Owen asked Arizona as his pager went off. He looked reluctant to leave her with a possibility insane or violent Callie.

Assuring him that she was fine and that it was just an accident, Arizona shooed him away to answer his page. Once his lab coat had whipped around the corner, she turned and punched her mortified girlfriend who was sporting a lovely beetroot shade on her face. "You just kicked my prosthesis! Why would you do that?!"

"You look really pretty today," Callie said in her attempt to mollify Arizona before explaining about her conversation with Cristina yesterday.

"You still didn't have to kick me" Arizona whined as she led Callie to the coffee cart where her girlfriend _would _be buying her a huge cup of coffee and _two _doughnuts as penance. "Now Owen is going to think that I'm in some sort of abusive relationship with a woman who beats disabled people..."

* * *

Returning to the paediatric wing after their coffee which had been slightly strained, Callie and Arizona found Karev at the admin station but one look through the window told them that the patient hadn't moved yet.

"Alex" Callie scolded, "You don't have her walking yet?"

"Oh... there's no talking to that girl, it's dark in there" Alex explained. "Really dark" he added for extra emphasis.

"Karev..." Callie began but Alex cut her off.

"I'm serious! That girl turned me into a suicide risk."

Callie just put her hands up in defeat, "I'm going to move her myself," she declared before turning and walking towards the room. She halted when she heard Arizona scoff and say to Alex,

"Excessive force, bad cop's go to move" Arizona said, effectively ending their temporary truce.

"Oh!" Callie said with a fake laugh, "you know what makes a bad cop bad?" she asked Alex. Figuring it was a rhetorical question that wasn't really aimed at him anyway, he decided not to answer. "When the good cop's namby pamby approach gets us nowhere and then bad cops has to set a limit and then ends up looking like a big meanie."

"A good cop's approach takes time and patience" Arizona countered. "Bad cop is a notorious hot head"

"Meredith was very clear. If Zola wanted to wear the dress, she had to wear the tights!"

"I'm gonna go lie down" Alex said before scampering off. Callie and Arizona just looked at each other in disgust before going their own separate ways too.

* * *

Later that day it was Arizona's turn to come across Karev looking at the door containing Simmi, the nightmare patient. This time, he was accompanied by Callie.

"Hey" she said brightly as she looked through the window. "How'd it go?"

Alex just made a face and Callie didn't respond at all.

"Oh for God's sakes!" Arizona said as she went to walk into the room herself before stopping momentarily to say to Callie, "see Officer Hardass? Your approach doesn't always work either."

* * *

An hour and a half later Callie was stabbing at a pasta salad in the cafeteria. Sulking that this was her dinner when they had reservations at the best restaurant in Seattle that would yet again go unfulfilled. Not that, if she was being honest, she wanted the blonde's company tonight. She was still in a mood that Arizona had been calling her out for being a hardass with a toddler and then a teenager only for the blonde to go all hardcore on said teenagers ass on the same day. That fact that Arizona's method had worked was completely beside the point.

"I've been busted" Cristina said as she sloped over to the table and proceed to ramble on whilst Callie only half listened to her woes with Owen.

"So I'll be moving out for real this time. Not that it'll have a big affect on you, you're always at Roller Girl's place anyway..."

"Fine whatever" Callie interrupted as she stood up, giving up on her dinner and just shoving the tray in front of Cristina. "And I wont be at Arizona's place tonight."

Before Cristina could responded, Callie had stalked out of the cafeteria to God knows where.

* * *

"We'll have to christen you with a Mc name now that you're going to be here permanently," Meredith said with a grin. Webber had just announced at this morning's staff meeting that he had offered Amelia the opportunity to complete her fellowship at SGMW with an attending position to follow. It hadn't taken her long to accept the offer. Like Teddy and Arizona before her, she had fallen in love with Seattle and was quite happy to settle here permanently, even if it did mean having her brother as her boss.

"A what name?" Amelia asked.

"It's just this stupid thing that we did in our intern year" Cristina explained to Amelia. "Anyway it's kind of just stuck. Derek became McDreamy..."

"Gross" Amelia interjected.

"...Sloan became McSteamy..."

"Yuck" came Arizona's response this time.

"So what's Arizona's then? As long as mine is better than hers, then I'm in" Amelia asked.

"I don't have one" Arizona responded with an almost pout.

"Yeah you do" Meredith and Cristina replied simultaneously. "You were christened around the same time as Owen. He became McArmy and you became McSmiley", Cristina supplied causing Arizona to giggle at the apt McName she had been given.

"Okay stop" Amelia said as she held her hands up, "mine needs to be way more hardcore than that"

"What's Callie's?" Arizona asked. True to her word, Callie had stayed away from Arizona's place, ignoring the several calls from the blonde in favour of other activities instead. They hadn't had a big bust up, but the combination of their argument about the cheque and then getting Zola dressed along with attempting to make Simmi the mean badger patient walk had them both feeling a little less lovey dovey than they usually did around each other.

"Huh" Meredith said, "Did we ever give her one?" she asked Cristina.

"Izzy probably had a few for her" she replied underneath her breath.

* * *

Later that day Arizona went in search of Callie who was on a later shift, she was still pissed, and this had only escalated further when she became worried when the Latina hadn't returned any of her calls the night before. She found her charting in the attendings' lounge. Arizona couldn't help herself, no matter how snippy they had been with each other and no matter how strained things had been over the last few days, her overriding feeling whenever she saw Callie was one of giddy happiness. Things were still pretty awkward though so Arizona just hovered in the doorway, undecided on whether to make her presence known or not.

"Owen found about Cristina's attempts at a double life," Callie said into the silence, interrupting Arizona's musings.

It wasn't a topic that would normal be of particular interest to Arizona, but given the circumstances, she jumped on it gratefully. "Hardly surprising" she said, "Seattle Grace has no secrets. What happened?"

"He gave her an ultimatum. Said that she was either in with this thing with him or she wasn't. She said she was in and would give up the apartment. It still wasn't easy for her though, I practically had to wrestle the apartment key from her and pack her bags for her this morning"

"Are you going to look for a new roommate?"

Callie shook her head, "too much hassle" she explained. "I needed a room mate when I was a resident but its fine now I'm an attending."

"Well look on the bright side, you wont have to clean up after Cristina all of the time and know Owen won't think we're in an abusive relationship" Arizona said, trying to lighten the thick atmosphere that had settled between them. Callie let out a small laugh at this, which encouraged Arizona to take a tentative step into this room and say, "can we just pretend like this week never happened? It's just been a trying week for both of us and we've blurred the lines between work and our private lives this week. Maybe we should just take this as a lesson that we need to be more mindful of separating the two and just move on from it?"

Callie let out a shuddering breath and replied, "I'd really like that."

"Good" Arizona responded with what felt like her first genuine smile in days, she hated it when they bickered. "Maybe you can come over tonight?"

Callie just shook her head, "I can't tonight, I have other plans."

"Okay" Arizona said, she didn't want to sound too possessive but she couldn't help herself from asking, "anything interesting?"

Callie's pager went off, negating the need to answer her girlfriend's question. "Nothing interesting" she said vaguely as she placed a tiny peck on Arizona's cheek and left to answer her page.

Arizona wasn't left alone for long as Amelia strolled in not thirty seconds later.

"There isn't a thing in here that's decent," she bemoaned to the blonde as she waved a newspaper around. She had been scouring the property section of the newspaper ever since she had known that there might be a possibility of transferring to Seattle. When Arizona showed no interest in this line of conversation she continued, "I'm going to be living here permanently soon. Do you want me to be homeless?"

"Yes that's exactly what I want" Arizona responded sarcastically. Pulling herself away from her own thoughts she turned to Amelia and tried to reason with her, "it's not like there is a major rush" she said, "Teddy is hardly going to kick you out any time soon. Just take your time to find a place that's right for you."

"There _is _a major rush though. Between you and Callie and now Teddy's fling with the councillor from Boston, all this romance is causing me to choke on a lot of McVomit. I just want a place of my own that I can happily name celibacy island for the rest of eternity."

Arizona just raised an eyebrow in response. She was feeling anything but romantic at this moment in time.

"Okay maybe not the rest of eternity..."

Arizona looked deep in thought for a moment, finally she said, "I know a place that might be available."

"Yeah?" Amelia asked, her interest piqued.

"Yeah." Arizona replied sounding more and more sure of herself as she continued on, "It's just across the street, it has two en-suite bedrooms, real hardwood floor and an open fireplace."

Amelia looked impressed, "well can you give me the details so I can make some enquiries please?"

Arizona just nodded thoughtfully before looking at her watch, "do you have some time now?"

* * *

Ten minutes later, Amelia stood outside of Callie's apartment as Arizona let them in with the key her girlfriend had given her a little while back. Arizona had yet to divulge to Amelia just whose apartment it actually was, not that the brunette didn't have her suspicions.

"This place is amazing," Amelia said as she admired the kitchen and living room. "I love the way it has been decorated, I wouldn't have to change anything at all."

Arizona just rolled her eyes at this comment, why did all the women in her life want to live in bat caves? She thought. Teddy had quite literally gone to live in a cave as part of her army training once. She took a seat on the couch as Amelia moved on to leisurely inspect bedrooms and the bathrooms, returning shortly after to take a seat next to Arizona.

"So..." Amelia began in the hopes of nudging the blonde into a conversation but Arizona was too busy picking at the thread on a cushion whilst bouncing her leg up and down at a rapid pace. She tried again, "so given that you have a key and that there is a picture of you on the night stand in one of the bedrooms, I'm going to take a wild guess that this place is Callie's?"

"Yep!"

Amelia huffed a little and placed a hand on Arizona's leg in an effort to still the bouncing. "You're going to have to be a little more vocal."

"Sorry" Arizona said with a sheepish grin, "I guess I'm just a little nervous."

"You and Callie are moving in together?"

Arizona nodded and then shook her head, "I'd like her to but I haven't exactly asked her yet. I've been thinking about it for a while now and was going to ask her when we finally got around to celebrating our anniversary."

Amelia arched an eyebrow and said, "so let me get this straight, this beautiful, perfect apartment that you've just dangled right in front of me could be mine if Callie moves in with you?"

"In a nutshell, yes."

"Well what are you waiting for?" Amelia exclaimed, "ask her!"

"I will" Arizona said, trying to convince herself more that Amelia. She hadn't lost any of her certainty about wanting to live with Callie, but this last week hadn't exactly been the best for them as a couple. And today with Callie's allusiveness... something just felt... off."

* * *

Having returned to the hospital, Amelia had left for surgery, although not before she made Arizona promise to speak to Callie as soon as she got the chance. Arizona meanwhile would be running the ER for the rest of the day as a favour to Owen.

For five hours with only an hour left to go she had managed to navigate the horror that was the pit and was just thinking how glad she was that she was in paediatrics when Lexie Grey interrupted her thoughts.

"Dr. Robbins?" Lexie asked, "I'm sorry but there is a women here with the patient in bed five who is insisting on having Jack seen by Dr. Torres."

"But it's not an ortho case" Arizona responded with a frown. Although, she hadn't seen the patient herself, she knew that a seven-year old boy had been brought in by his school teacher for a suspected asthma attack.

"I told her that but she is insistent that Jack is seen by nobody but Dr. Torres."

"I'll be right over" Arizona responded as she finished writing her prescription before instructing an intern to pass it along to the patient she had been treating. She then moved over to curtain six where the patient was currently on nebs whilst a very attractive but very anxious woman was hovering over him.

"Mrs...?" Arizona asked politely.

"Rachel Groves" the woman said, "and its Miss not Mrs" she corrected.

Arizona inclined her head in acknowledgement, "Miss Groves, I'm Dr. Robbins. Dr. Grey advised me that she is having some difficulty in treating Jack. I've come to see if I can be of assistance."

Rachel looked a little apologetic as she said, "I'm sure Dr. Grey is extremely competent..."

"She is indeed" Arizona interrupted.

This time it was Rachel's turn to incline her head, "...nevertheless, I would feel more comfortable if somebody would page Dr. Torres for me, she is an attending and I know how qualified she is to look after Jack."

Arizona wasn't moved by this, "Miss Groves, Seattle Grace Mercy West is a teaching hospital and therefore we allow our junior doctors the chance to learn whenever the opportunity is afforded to them. That being said, should you wish to have a more senior doctor be responsible for your student's care whilst a patient here, then that is perfectly understandable. However, if it is a question of being well qualified, then let me assure you, as wonderfully talented as Dr. Torres is in her field on Orthopaedics, if you are looking for the best paediatric care for Jack, then as the head of paediatric surgery at this hospital, I would have to say that would be me."

"Dr. Robbins" Rachel began, "I will have absolutely no objection to you overseeing Jack's care, _alongside _Dr. Torres" When Arizona didn't look as though she was going to budge, the woman let out a frustrated groan and said, "Dr. Torres is my girlfriend Dr. Robbins."

Lexie's eyes almost popped out of her head as her head comically snapped to Arizona's face. For Arizona's part, her momentary look of shock was immediately masked with a look of utmost professionalism.

"Dr. Grey" Arizona said, "please page Dr. Torres."

"What, what shall I tell her?" Lexie stumbled out.

Arizona's tone was like ice, "tell her that Miss Rachel Groves, _her girlfriend, _is waiting for her in curtain six.

* * *

Callie grabbed the file and took a quick look, stopping abruptly on her way to curtain six. "Grey" she said as she looked at the file, "unless the kid broke a bone whilst having an asthma attack, I'm not really sure what this has to do with ortho"

Lexie just mumbled something indistinct.

"Speak up" Callie said.

"Your girlfriend requested that you specifically treated the patient."

"Arizona?" Callie said confusedly looking over to the nurses desk where Arizona was. She was on the phone but her eyes were fixed on Callie.

"No" Lexie said, "a woman called Rachel Groves."

Callie did a double take, "oh" she responded dumbly.

"The patient is in some discomfort" Lexie felt the need to say as Callie showed no sign of movement, her attention focused on Arizona who was still on the phone.

"S..sure" Callie said, "of course" as she turned and walked over to curtain six, closing the curtain behind her with a final look at Arizona.

"Yeah, patient name, Lewis Frakton" Arizona repeated down the phone. "Great, thanks."

Putting the phone down, her eyes still trained on the curtain that had been closed for ten minutes now, she instructed an intern to go an grab her patient's scans. Before she could do anything further, she was accosted by Amelia who looked like she had come straight down from surgery.

"Have you asked her?" she asked eagerly.

Arizona slammed the patient file she had in front of her shut. "No" she said, "I haven't."

* * *

**Thoughts?**


	22. Chapter 22

**Title**: Chance Encounters  
**Author**: Eek's Bubble  
**Rating**: M  
**Beta**: Arizona3311 – Thank you!  
**Pairings**: Callie/Arizona  
**Disclaimer**: All movies, songs, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual.  
**Summary**: What if Arizona was already an amputee before she met Callie?

**A/N**: I thought I'd better get this out quickly as lots of you seemed to be having a meltdown of epic proportions! Loved your responses, thank you just doesn't seem big enough to convey my gratitude. Also, as this story draws to to a close, it is perhaps worth mentioning that Chance Encounters, for me, has always been about Arizona's recovery. Whilst Callie's role in that is obviously huge, it is ultimately about Arizona's journey. For those of you who read Footloose, that will very much about Callie's path as the story progresses.

* * *

_Callie grabbed the file and took a quick look, stopping abruptly on her way to curtain six. "Grey" she said as she looked at the file, "unless the kid broke a bone whilst having an asthma attack, I'm not really sure what this has to do with ortho."_

_Lexie just mumbled something indistinct. _

"_Speak up" Callie said._

"_Your girlfriend requested that you specifically treated the patient."_

"_Arizona?" Callie said confusedly looking over to the nurses desk where Arizona was. She was on the phone but her eyes were fixed on Callie. _

"_No" Lexie said, "a woman called Rachel Groves."_

_Callie did a double take, "oh" she responded dumbly._

"_The patient is in some discomfort" Lexie felt the need to say as Callie showed no sign of movement, her attention focused on Arizona who was still on the phone._

"_S..sure" Callie said, "of course" as she turned and walked over to curtain six, closing the curtain behind her with a final look at Arizona._

* * *

After closing the curtain, her mind going a mile a minute she turned to face the patient and her so-called girlfriend, Rachel Groves. So many emotions rose up inside of her as she looked into a face she knew so intimately.

"Hi Jack, my name is Dr. Torres. Is it okay if I take a listen to your chest?" Callie asked softly as she turned to the patient first, allowing herself to gather her thoughts.

Jack nodded through strained wheezing and it was only her concern for a patient who was clearly in some level of discomfort that stopped her running over to Arizona to try and clear everything up. First of all though, she had to know exactly what it was she would need to clear up.

"Is there any particular reason why you insisted I be paged Rachel?" Callie asked wearily as she examined the patient.

"I was freaking out okay? You know what I get like when there is a problem with one of my kids."

"Knew. Past tense Rachel."

"Listen I'm sorry, you were probably in the middle of something really important right? But seriously, that girl doesn't look much older than Jack here" she whispered conspiratorially, nodding towards Lexie who was looking petrified, as though a bomb was about to explode at any second.

"The head of paediatric surgery is running the ER today Rachel, I can assure you that she is more than capable of dealing with an asthma attack." Callie said with a hint of a reprimand in her tone. She issued some work up instructions to Lexie who shot out of the ER without a second glance.

"The hot blonde?" Rachel clarified, "yeah she said as much."

"Okay Jack, I'm going to give you just a little bit of medicine that should help you breathe a little better. I want you to keep breathing through the mask too. We're going to do a few checks and then we can give you the right medicine to help you feel better." Turning to Rachel, Callie asked carefully, "What exactly did you say to her?"

Rachel just shrugged sheepishly, "She came over when I refused to let the baby doctor examine Jack and I kept asking for you to be paged. She didn't look like she was going to budge so I told her you were my girlfriend. Seemed to work." she added with what she hoped was a winning and jaunty smile.

"Rachel" Callie sighed as she counted to ten in her head. "The hot blonde is my girlfriend. Who now probably thinks I'm having an affair."

"You're in a relationship with a woman?" When Callie nodded, Rachel continued, "Wow Callie, I've got to say that surprises me. I always thought your family would come first for you. That's why I wouldn't take you back. It wasn't because I stopped caring about you."

"I can't do this here Rachel. Not now" Callie said. "I'm happy to talk to you but right now, I need to go and fix things with Arizona." Before Rachel could respond, she had closed the curtain behind her.

"I think we need to talk" Callie said once she had reached the desk where her girlfriend was.

"I think that would be best" Arizona agreed as she walked from behind the desk so they could go somewhere more private. Nowadays, whenever they went somewhere together, Callie would always try for some sort of contact, no matter how small with Arizona, whether it be an arm around the shoulders or holding hands. Now though, when she instinctively placed her hand on the small of Arizona's back to lead her away from the ER she felt the blonde stiffen under her touch and immediately withdrew her hand as though she had been stung. "Not just yet" Arizona said.

Callie was obviously upset by this but given the circumstances, she couldn't really blame Arizona. If the roles had been reversed, she would have flipped out by now so Arizona's eerie silence and calm demeanour only made things more uncomfortable.

Arizona opened the first on call room and found that it wasn't empty, a resident was in there trying to catch some sleep. "Get out" she said to the resident, her voice devoid of any emotion.

"What the...?" the resident asked groggily.

"I SAID GET OUT!" Arizona raged as the resident scrambled out of the room.

Okay maybe she wasn't so calm, Callie thought to herself as she locked the door behind the recently departed resident. When she turned around, Arizona was leaning against the frame of the bunk bed with her arms crossed over her chest. This clearly defensive position stopped Callie from entering any further into the room.

Callie opened her mouth to start talking but Arizona cut her off.

"Before you say anything, I need to say just one thing", she waited for Callie to nod before continuing, "I do not believe that you are cheating on me. In my heart, I know this to be true." Whether this was a naïve thought or not she didn't know. What she did know, was that her faith in Callie's love for her would be unwavering until she had overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Arizona's voice was so quiet and so full of raw emotion that Callie felt as though someone had just tied a knot in her heart. Taking two strides forward so that she was close to the blonde but without being in her personal space, she said emphatically, "I am not having an affair Arizona. You are it for me."

Arizona's shoulders slumped slightly as she nodded, hastily wiping away the tears that had begun to betray her feelings. It was one thing wanting to believe something so desperately but until she had received that confirmation from Callie, there was still that niggling doubt.

Callie wanted nothing more than to pull her into a hug and soothe away all the pain but she knew that Arizona wasn't ready for that yet.

"My brain has some questions though" Arizona said. "You need to explain to me what the hell is going on Callie. Because I swear to God, I'm about to have a meltdown." She sat down on the bottom bunk and Callie did the same.

"Do you remember our first night at Joe's? You thought you were too broken to be worthy of any type of relationship so I told you a little about my past to show you that everyone has baggage?" Callie asked.

Arizona remembered that night well, how surprised she had been by Callie's nonchalance towards her current situation and how refreshing it was:

"_Okay so I figured, I should put some cards on the table, I want you to know what you're getting yourself into" Arizona said to Callie as soon as she returned with their drinks. _

"_You're not a serial killer are you?" Callie quipped, trying to lighten the mood. Taking note of the stubborn look on the blondes face she decided to take a different approach "right well, I'm all ears to your cards if you listen to mine too." _

_Arizona's head snapped up in surprise, "yours?" she asked._

"_Yes mine Arizona, now do we have a deal or not?"_

"_I was in a plane crash four months ago and had to have my leg amputated so now I'm a disabled person who is having to learn how to be mobile all over again. I feel ugly and disgusting pretty much all the time and that's just the physical side of things. Mentally, I'm a mess who can't control the paralysing fear I feel most of the time, so much so that I don't even know how to start trying to be the person and surgeon I once was. I feel like she died in that crash and left this person I don't know or like left behind instead – so do you still want to date me knowing all of that?" Arizona asked without ever lifting her eyes off of the glass in front of her._

_Callie raised an eyebrow at the blonde, "are you finished?" she asked, causing Arizona's head to snap up once more. _

"_I guess" she replied. _

"_Good, now it's my turn – and no interruptions please" she stated as Arizona looked as though she were going to cut in. "I was married to a man once who I loved much more than he ever loved me, he then cheated on me with his best friend. I was so messed up about it that I almost threw away my career when I was fired from being Chief Resident. Then I started a relationship with a woman, she was my first girlfriend and she left me in the middle of a parking lot at the hospital and I haven't seen or heard from her since. I finally pick myself up off the floor and start a relationship with another woman but my family disapproved of me being gay or bisexual or whatever and threaten to disown me if I don't end things with this woman. So I make the extraordinarily stupid decision to leave her and choose my family, only to realise that I can't hide who I am from my family so they cut me out of their lives completely and my girlfriend wouldn't take me back because of the decision I made. That was a year ago and I've been going through the motions ever since, lonely and celibate, too scared to open myself up to anyone" Callie finished fixing Arizona with a hard stare. "The point is Arizona, is that we all have scars, you just happen to have a pretty big one on the outside". _

"Rachel is the woman you left for your family. She was your extraordinarily stupid decision?" Arizona asked, her voice low. She was without a doubt, relieved that Callie was not having an affair but the idea that there was a woman who Callie had wanted to be with was back in her life didn't make her feel much better either.

"Rachel is an ex-girlfriend. My extraordinarily stupid decision didn't have anything to do with her... I mean not really. It was stupid of me to try and hide who I am to my family, regardless of who I was with at the time." Callie attempted to clarify, desperately hoping that Arizona could see the difference.

"But you tried to get her back" Arizona said, not a question, just a fact.

"I did" Callie confirmed.

"But she wouldn't take you back."

"She wouldn't."

"Does she want you back now?" Arizona asked, a bit of that steely tone back.

Callie hadn't even thought about that. "I... I don't know. I don't think so."

"Why did she say she was your girlfriend?"

Callie thought about this for a moment before responding, "She's a grade school teacher and one of her very best qualities is that she really cares about her students. So much so that she can get a little too invested in their well-being sometimes. If she thinks, however unreasonably, that her kids aren't getting the care or attention they deserve, then she will advocate for them to the very best of her ability. She's like you in that respect."

"I don't go around claiming other people's girlfriend's as my own" Arizona muttered mutinously.

"I should hope not," Callie said softly.

"I don't like her" Arizona huffed.

"That's okay" Callie reassured.

"Did you love her?" Arizona asked, that same heartbreaking tone seeping through.

Again Callie took her time before responding. "I guess at the time, I thought I did but now I don't think so. What I did to her was horrible, she was so supportive of me when my family were being so awful and then I went and chose them anyway. If I had been with you during that time in my life, I know that there wouldn't have even been a choice to make, it would always be you. That's love. If I had of loved her, then I wouldn't have done what I did. She was perfectly within her rights to kick me to the curb when I came crawling back, which she did. She deserved better."

"The question I have Callie, is does she still think today that she deserves better? I just still can't get my head around why she would say something like that. It's either true but I trust you when you say it's not. So that leads me to believe that maybe she's not totally over you."

"I can't speak for her Arizona but I can speak for me. I so desperately need you to believe me when I say that there isn't anywhere I would rather be than here with you."

Arizona was silent for a moment as she tried to digest everything. But what she did know, was that Callie had never once questioned her own relationship with Amelia, despite the significant presence her ex-lover had in her life. Not one doubt about Amelia's feelings towards Arizona or if Arizona was faithful to Callie. If she could do that, then Arizona could certainly offer her the same level of trust in return. It didn't matter who else was in the picture at any one time. Callie loved Arizona and Arizona loved Callie. None of the rest of it mattered.

"Well okay then" Arizona said finally.

"Yeah?" Callie asked, relief washing over her.

"Yeah" Arizona confirmed. "I'm going to need a hug though."

Wordlessly, Callie sprawled herself across the bed and pulled Arizona on top of her. They stayed there for some time, Arizona holding tightly on to Callie, breathing in her scent as the brunette traced circles on her back and whispered words of love in her ear.

"What are you doing tonight?" came Arizona voice, muffled because she had tucked her face into the warmth of Callie's neck.

"Huh?"

"Tonight" Arizona repeated as she lifted her head out of the nook it had been resting in, choosing instead to lean her chin against Callie's shoulder and look up at her. "You said you couldn't come over because you had other plans. When I was waiting for you to come down to the ER, I couldn't help but wonder, very briefly I might add, if Rachel was your plan for this evening."

Callie sat up, she looked a little uncomfortable. "You won't be mad?"

Arizona eyed her warily but said, "not thirty minutes ago, there was a corner of my brain that thought you where cheating on me. I'm sure it can't be worse than that."

Callie chewed on her lip and said, "I've been working with David on building you a better prosthesis, one that will hopefully consume less of your energy."

Arizona looked shocked by this but silently encouraged Callie to continue.

"I've been working on the knee joint in particular," she rambled on. "It's been a little tricky and its taken months to get there but we've finally got there and I was going to get it fitted for you tonight. David already has your casting..."

Arizona allowed Callie to talk about mechanisms and hydraulics, she might have even heard computer microchip thrown in there somewhere but she couldn't process it all. No cheating, just unwavering love and devotion.

Arizona cut off Callie's ramblings with a kiss, pulling back she said, "It'll be perfect, thank you."

"You haven't even seen it yet" Callie said with a frown but was once again very effectively shut up with another kiss.

"I know it'll be perfect because it's from you and you're perfect. I'm sorry that even the smallest part of me doubted you."

"I'm far from perfect" Callie scoffed, "and I can't say with 100% certainty that I wouldn't have had some toxic thoughts of my own had the roles been reversed."

Arizona didn't respond to the last comment but did say, "you're perfect for me, how's that?"

Callie just responded with a kiss of her own which was rudely interrupted by the beeping of both their pages, signalling that Jack's lab results were back.

* * *

As they re-entered the ER, Lexie handed them the results of Jack's work up which Arizona quickly scanned as they made their way over to curtain six where Rachel was waiting with Jack who appeared to be breathing easier, albeit with the assistance of a nebulizer.

"Rachel" Callie said, "you've met Dr. Robbins before and even though Jack's case isn't surgical, she has kindly agreed to oversee his care."

"Thank you" Rachel said to Arizona as she appraised her a little more carefully than she had done during their first meeting. Snapping her attention back to Callie she said, "and you...?"

"Will be leaving this case to the people who have far more knowledge about paediatrics than I do. Besides, I have somewhere I need to be." She said it with such finality that it brooked no room for discussion.

After talking to Jack for a while about his symptoms and discovering from Rachel that Jack's parents were stuck out of town and would be a least another couple of hours before they could make it. Epinephrine was prescribed for Jack and she instructed Lexie to have him transferred up to the paediatric wing where there was a room waiting for him. She then sent Rachel over to the admin desk to sign a few more forms, saying that she would wait so they could go up to the ward together.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Arizona stepped into the elevator with Rachel and Callie and pressed the button for the paediatric ward and the button for the ground floor for Callie where she was going to the PT wing. As the only ones in the elevator, it made for an uncomfortable silence with Callie stuck between Arizona on the right and Rachel on the left. Things were only made weirder when the elevator stopped at another floor, the doors sliding open to reveal Amelia who stepped on and stood on the other side of Arizona.

"Hey guys" Amelia said uncertainly to Arizona and Callie, frowning slightly when neither of them responded. "Okkaay" she said under her breath before leaning across to Arizona and whispering, "did you ask her yet?"

"So not the time to be discussing this Amelia!" Arizona hissed back quietly.

This elevator ride felt like the longest in history and was only punctuated further when it again came to a stop before their respective destinations. This time when the doors opened it, Mark was the one waiting. He stopped abruptly as he surveyed the sight in front of him.

Four mute women. Callie and Arizona with their ex girlfriends on either side of them.

"I think I'll take the stairs," Mark said quickly, allowing the doors to close.

"You'll page me if you need me?" Callie asked softly so that only Arizona could hear.

"I think I can handle an asthma attack Calliope" Arizona gently admonished.

"That's not exactly what I was referring to."

"I know" Arizona responded with a smile as she squeezed her girlfriend's hand, "I'll be fine."

As the elevator stopped at the ground floor, both Amelia and Callie stepped off. Amelia departed quickly with one last questioning glance at Arizona whilst Callie took a little longer as though nervous about leaving the two women alone. Callie had already told Arizona that she would come over to her place after she had finished up with David.

Looking towards Rachel, she said, "take care Rachel."

"Callie..." Rachel responded, taking a few steps forward to stop the elevator from closing. Her eyes briefly flickered towards Arizona, as though she was trying to figure out a way to speak to Callie without the blonde hearing. "I was hoping that we could talk before I left?"

Callie considered her for a moment and said, "If it doesn't make Arizona uncomfortable then I'm happy to talk."

"She's not your keeper, Callie" Rachel said, all pretence forgotten.

"No, she is my partner and I would never willingly do something I knew was going to hurt her." Callie responded fiercely, drawing a few gazes from people passing by the elevator.

Rachel opened her mouth to respond but didn't get a chance to as Arizona intervened.

"Both of you stop it. We are in a hospital, it is a place where people come to be taken care of and you should both be old enough to respect that. Calliope, if you want to talk with Rachel and she wants to talk with you then I have no issue with that."

Both women looked well and truly put in their place. "Arizona is right" Callie said, "I have somewhere to be right now and so do you" she wrote down her pager number and passed it to Rachel, "page me when you're done and I'll come and meet you in the lobby."

As the door closed, leaving Rachel and Arizona to ride up to the paediatric wing in silence, Rachel eventually turned and said, "Listen, I'm sure you're a really nice person, but about Callie..."

"No" Arizona said, cutting off whatever Rachel was about to say. "I am going to take care of Jack and then I am going to leave the hospital and wait for the woman I love to come home to me. You and I? We are not going to talk about her." And with that, Arizona frogmarched out of the elevator, leaving Rachel to trail in her wake.

* * *

Two hours later, Callie met with Rachel in the lobby, handing her a cup of coffee that she had picked up for them both on the way.

"What you got there?" Rachel asked, pointed to the massive box that Callie had lugged along with her.

"A present for Arizona" Callie said with the smile of an excited schoolgirl.

Seeing the strain in Rachel's eyes, Callie asked, "How is Jack?" She wanted to start the conversation on neutral ground.

"He's doing much better, he'll be kept in overnight as a precaution but should be discharged in the morning. His parents arrived half and hour ago."

Callie indicated she was pleased Jack was going to be okay.

"You remembered how I take my coffee" Rachel noted.

"Arizona takes it the same way" Callie responded with a shrug and a smile.

"Hmmm" Rachel said as she took a sip of the warm liquid, "I don't think she likes me all that much."

"You rejected her abilities as a doctor of paediatric medicine in favour of someone who is a non specialist, insult her favourite intern and then declare that her girlfriend is actually your girlfriend. Can you blame her?"

Rachel didn't respond for a moment before she finally said, "I never stopped thinking about what would have happened if I'd just taken you back that night. I'd managed to convince myself that you would have just gone back to men anyway at some point and that I'd saved myself from some future hardship. Then when I knew I'd have to bring Jack to the hospital, all of that just kind of went out of the window. I wanted to see you. I wanted us to try again."

Callie just stared straight ahead, looking at nothing in particular although she seemed deep in thought. "What you did tonight, you really could have messed things up for me. I love her" she responded simply.

Rachel left out a hard, rueful laugh as she patted Callie on the knee. "Oh don't worry, two things have already convinced me that I'm fighting a losing battle on that score." Callie raised her eyebrows in curiosity, which was enough for Rachel to elaborate, "The first being when she called you Calliope in the elevator and you didn't even bat an eyelid. The second being that she was so wholly convinced that you would be coming home to her tonight, I don't think anything I could have said to her would have made her believe otherwise. I won't apologise for what I did though. You're amazing, if there was even a chance that she didn't see that, then I was going to take it. Unfortunately for me, I think she knows what she has."

Rachel and Callie spent the next half an hour going over wounds they had never quite closed. It was amicable enough and they parted ways both feeling better for the closure.

* * *

As their eventful day drew to a close, Arizona found herself in the arms of Callie. She had treated Jack, updated his parents when they arrived and then left for home. She had resisted the temptation to seek out Callie, instead choosing to wait for the Latina to come to her like she had promised she would.

When she had arrived at Arizona's, she spoke briefly of her conversation with Rachel and how they had parted on good terms. She then excitedly produced the transfemoral prosthesis she had been working on so secretly for months and they spent the rest of the evening testing it out. Arizona let Callie chatter away about the limb and how much it would help and then Arizona thanked her for her gift as they made love until the early hours.

As Arizona snuggled further into the embrace of her sleeping girlfriend. Her first though was that she felt as thought something had shifted in their relationship today. It wasn't the most conventional way... but she was now sure that asking Callie to move in with her was right for them. She knew she loved Callie, she had known that for a long time. But she also knew that a partnership takes more than that to work in the long term. This week had been full of them bickering, not full on arguments, just little things that happen from time to time in any relationship. Then today, they had faced a bump in the road in the face of Rachel. But they had faced it together. They had talked about it with each other and they had stood together. Communication isn't always easy, especially when the topics are difficult or painful. Maybe it would be easier to sweep things under the carpet and not deal with them but they had learnt together that didn't work so well. Today they had communicated and tonight... tonight Arizona was sure that they were ready to share their lives together. She just hoped that Callie felt that way too. Much to Amelia's irritation, she hadn't yet asked Callie to move in with her. She didn't want it to be seen as a knee-jerk reaction to a bad day. She wanted Callie to know that the reasons were filled with nothing but love.

Her second thought as she looked around the room, her eyes landing on her prosthesis, which was leaning against the wall next to her bed. She had felt such a myriad of emotions today, jealously, suspicion, anger, grief, devastation... but the one thing she hadn't felt was insecurity.

This surprised her in the best possible way. She couldn't help but wonder what her overwhelming reaction would have been if this had happened six months ago. She was positive that she would immediately have thought about her leg. How she shouldn't be surprised that someone like Callie would want to be with someone who was whole and not so damaged like she was. Today... today her leg hadn't even crossed her mind once and that was all because of Calliope. If her relationship with Callie had taught her anything, it was to know that good people weren't the ones who looked past something like a disability, but instead, the good ones were the ones who didn't see the disability at all. To some people, there might not be much of a difference but to Arizona, that made all the difference in the world. It was that difference, that gave her Calliope.

* * *

**So with two chapters to go... you didn't really think that I would turn Callie into a cheater did you?! :)**

**Thoughts?**


	23. Chapter 23

**Title**: Chance Encounters  
**Author**: Eek's Bubble  
**Rating**: M  
**Beta**: Arizona3311 – Thank you!  
**Pairings**: Callie/Arizona  
**Disclaimer**: All movies, songs, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work and the characters, events, and settings thereof are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context and are not intended to be libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual.  
**Summary**: What if Arizona was already an amputee before she met Callie?

**A/N: **SO Sorry for the huge delay between postings. My motivation to write just went out the window, who knew that the hugely depressing events of canon would bring the muse back? Thanks once more to all of you who read and review. Penultimate chapter – enjoy!

* * *

"See ya." Arizona called out with a jovial wave on her way out of her latest physical therapy session.

"Arizona, can you hold up for a second please?" David asked, jogging over to her.

The blonde suppressed a growl of annoyance before slapping a smile on her face. She hated these sessions and didn't like to stay for any longer than absolutely necessary, especially when she had a meeting with Wallace Anderson's parents later on this morning. None of this was David's fault however, "What's up?" she asked as she re-entered the room.

"I just wanted to give you your next appointment card," David replied as he handed over a small white card.

Arizona's forehead wrinkled in confused, "My appointment card? My appointment is the same time each week..." Her face went strangely blank as she studied the card where her next appointment was scheduled for six months time. "Are you serious?" she asked disbelievingly.

David shrugged and said, "Why not? You're comfortable with your prosthetic, your muscle strength and control is great. Of course if you need anything I'm here but I'm confident you've adapted very well and will continue to do so."

"Wow" Arizona said a little dumbly, "you're sure about this?"

"I'm sure" David insisted.

"Okay then" Arizona said lamely but made no attempt to move. "Thank you," she said earnestly as she moved in to give David a hug, "you've been awesome."

David chuckled, "I'm not going anywhere Arizona, we'll still see each other around the hospital all the time. Besides, I'll be glad to see the back of you" he joked, "Dr. Torres has been nothing short of a pain in my ass over your prosthetic."

"Sorry" Arizona said with a grin, "it's just kind of weird that's all, you've kind of become a part of the fixtures and fittings of my life."

"Thanks. I think." David said with another laugh before continuing, "seriously though Arizona, this is what you wanted, what you've worked hard for. Why don't you go an celebrate with your good lady?"

"I think I will."

* * *

"Arizona, seriously, you're killing me here." Amelia complained for what Arizona felt was the hundredth time this week.

"These things can't be rushed," Arizona defended.

"They can when your best friend needs a place to live" Amelia retorted before turning to Teddy, "help me out here?"

"Glaciers move faster than you do on this" Teddy said matter-of-factly, not looking up from the journal she was reading.

Arizona muttered darkly to what sounded a lot like 'traitor'. "I wanted it to be special" she huffed, "but I can't think of the right way to do it and now I've built it up so much in my head that nothing seems good enough."

Amelia raised an eyebrow in exasperation, "geez, you're asking her to move in with you, it's not like you're proposing."

Arizona choked violently on her soda.

"Easy there tiger" Teddy soothed as she patted the blonde on the back, still not looking up from the journal.

"Marriage" Arizona wheezed, "is a big, huge, massive thing. I don't think either of us are ready for that step yet."

"Okay here's the solution. Just think of marriage and then moving in together doesn't seem like such a huge deal," Amelia offered.

Teddy finally closed the journal and stared at Amelia, "How romantic" she dead-panned.

"Real hardwood floors, a five minute walk from the hospital and you get your place back to yourself so you can have Andrew stay without worrying about me being around to hear you having loud and obnoxious sex " Amelia countered.

Teddy blinked a few times before breaking out into a grin, "touché" she said before turning her attention to Arizona. "So, let's think about how you're going to ask Callie to move in with you."

"I was going to do it last night I swear I was but then Callie insisted that we go out to celebrate being signed off from PT. I didn't want to just throw it in for good measure." Arizona said.

"I promise you Arizona" Amelia said wisely. "You have built this up so much that it will be a huge anti-climax"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better or worse?" Arizona asked. "Damn" she added as her pager ended her lunch after only ten minutes, "911 in the ER" she mumbled to nobody in particular. Standing up she looked at her two friends, "you'll help me later right?"

Amelia nodded vigorously, Teddy did too but with less enthusiasm.

"We'll brainstorm" Amelia promised to Arizona's retreating form.

* * *

"Urgh" Arizona exclaimed as she flopped ungracefully across the sofa in the attendings' lounge.

Amelia was sitting at the table examining the contents of a newspaper with interest. Without looking up, she asked, "How many cases?"

"Thirty-nine confirmed and another twelve suspected." Her 911 page to the ER was a nightmare. The police had uncovered a warehouse full of kids in an illegal trafficking bust. Nearly all of them were found to have measles. Thirty-two hours after her original fourteen-hour shift had ended, she still hadn't left the hospital.

"Go home." Amelia urged but Arizona just shook her head mid yawn.

"I can't. All the measles kids have been quarantined but I haven't touched the paperwork yet and I still have to meet with social services. Don't even get me started on any of my regular cases that I haven't even looked at in days. All my electives had to be pushed." Arizona tried not to think about all of the things she still had to do. If she did, she might just stomp her feet and cry with exhaustion. Changing the subject, she turned her head in Amelia's direction and asked what it was that had her so engrossed in the newspaper.

"I'm looking for apartments," Amelia said.

That woke Arizona up. "What?! Why?!"

"I need a place to live Arizona!" she replied in heated exasperation. "You've been saying that you are going to talk to Callie for two weeks now." She stopped and continued in a softer tone, "I feel as though me wanting Callie's apartment is pushing you into something you aren't ready for and even if you are ready, I can't wait around forever for you to pull your head and actually ASK CALLIE TO MOVE IN WITH YOU!"

Arizona looked indignant. "I am ready for this" she insisted fiercely, "I love Calliope. I apologise that my being holed up in the paeds ward for the better part of four days has interfered with my plans for domestic bliss" she added in a slightly snarky tone.

"Okay fine," Amelia challenged, "so you're going to ask Callie when you get home then?" When Arizona's only response was a good imitation of a gold fish, Amelia drove her point home. "You forget how well I know you Arizona, so why don't you just go ahead and tell me what the real problem is?"

Arizona's shoulders slumped as she sat up to face her long time friend. "I just want it to be perfect. She's amazing, the best thing that has ever happened to me and the least I can do is to try and be a bit romantic about it. I don't really want to ask her over a lunch of mac and cheese at the cafeteria."

"Oh sweetie" Amelia soothed sympathetically as she moved to sit next to Arizona who was now looking positively morose.

"Callie is nuts about you, anyone with eyes can see that. You could ask her over an open chest cavity and she'd still say yes but I understand where you are coming from."

"She's an OR junkie" Arizona quipped, "Calliope would probably find that quite romantic."

"What would I find romantic?" Callie asked as she entered the lounge carrying a large box.

"Aaand that's my cue" Amelia said, dropping a kiss on Arizona's forehead before slipping out the room, closing the door behind her.

"What would I find romantic?" Callie repeated as she provided Arizona with her own rather romantic kiss in welcome, leaving Arizona happily dazed.

"It's a surprise" the blonde responded cryptically.

Callie's face broke into a delighted smile, "Will I like this surprise?"

"I really hope so," Arizona said with a hint of desperation.

Callie's brow furrowed slightly at the tone but she let it slide without question. "Well I'm sure I'll love it," she declared with confidence.

"Speaking of surprises, what are you doing here on your day off?"

"Well... I figured you wouldn't be taking very good care of yourself..."

"Hey!" Arizona exclaimed, "I know how to take care of myself"

"Of course you do" Callie placated. "But that's my job now."

Arizona couldn't help but beam at the proprietary tone in her girlfriend's voice. She watched as Callie revealed the contents of the impromptu care package. It contains a thermos of coffee, an assortment of her favourite doughnuts along with what Callie called 'proper food', in this case, a container of lasagne. The box didn't just contain food but also some fresh clothes and toiletries, including a clean sock for her residual limb.

"Is there anything you didn't think of?" Arizona teased.

"I don't think so" Callie responded thoughtfully, causing Arizona to laugh at how adorable her badass ortho rockstar could be behind closed doors.

"I adore you so very much" Arizona said, tugging at the lapels of her girlfriend's leather jacket, pulling her in for a searing kiss.

"I should do these things more often if that's the thanks I get" Callie said lecherously before asking, "will I see you tonight?"

Arizona nodded, "come hell or high water I am leaving this hospital tonight."

"I'll be waiting" Callie promised.

"And _that _my dear is the reason nothing is stopping me from leaving."

* * *

"Oh my God, she has a flip chart" Amelia groaned as she entered Arizona's office.

"No _just _flip chart" Teddy added who was already seated on the couch, "there are coloured marker pens as well."

"I should have brought alcohol," Amelia grumbled.

"Think of the hardwood floors" Teddy advised, "That'll get you through."

"And what are you thinking about to get you through?" Amelia countered, her eyes twinkling with devilment.

Arizona meanwhile was pointedly ignoring this exchange between her two best friends as she colour coded her brainstorming chart. "Listen up" she said turning around, "I only have forty-five minutes until my meeting with the social workers for the measles kids and then so help God, I am outta here. I would like to go home with a _plan _people."

"You could take her for a romantic meal?" Amelia suggested.

"Not even good enough to go on the chart Shepherd" Arizona said, "crank it up."

"Space needle?" Teddy said. Arizona thought about it for a moment before shrugging and adding it to the list.

"You could go ahead and add her name to deeds on the house and then show her," Amelia offered.

"It's a little presumptuous" Arizona said. "I don't want her to feel pressured into saying yes."

"Okay" Teddy chipped in, "you could take her somewhere nice for a weekend and do it that way."

Arizona added it to the list. "Keep them coming," she instructed.

"I don't see any marvellous suggestions coming from you" Amelia pointed out.

"Arizona threw her a playful glare, "if I had suggestions, I wouldn't be asking for your help in the first place now would I? So, next idea?"

Silence.

Amelia blew out a breath, "Maybe asking her in the OR really is the most romantic way to do it. Ooh! You could take her to her cartilage lab. Arizona and cartilage, Callie's two passions in life".

A knock on the door interrupted their laughter as Alex peeked his head in and said, "The social workers are here early. They're just with a couple of the kids now but they'll be heading up to the conference room soon."

"Damn" Arizona said as Teddy and Amelia jumped up to leave. "Thanks Alex."

As Amelia left, Teddy stopped and placed both hands on Arizona's shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze. "You're over thinking this way too much. My Dad gave my Mom a toaster one day and said it was for the house they were going to live in after they were married. That was his proposal and they've been together for forty years now."

Arizona smiled as Teddy took her leave, before hurrying off to her meeting.

* * *

The next morning, Arizona awoke to find that Callie had returned some time in the early hours. She was disappointed that just as she herself was leaving the hospital the night before, Callie had been called in on an emergency page on one of her critical patients. She watched Callie for a few moments, content to just lie there with her sleeping girlfriend rather than the passing ships in the night type of relationship they had been experiencing this past week. Careful not to wake Callie, she got out of bed and donned her prosthesis. Padding her way into the kitchen to make herself some coffee and a bagel before stepping out onto the porch, taking a seat on the swing. As she waved to the elderly couple across the street, she made a mental note to call her parents after breakfast. Her mind drifted as it always did, to Callie, still asleep in her bed. How did she ask Callie to move in with her? She asked herself for the hundredth time. How did she make it their bed that Callie was sleeping in? Thinking back to what Teddy had said to her yesterday she smiled, one toaster and bam, forty years going strong. Her smile grew wider as she got up and re-entered the house. Well, she thought, it doesn't have to be exactly a toaster in her case...

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, Arizona pulled into the car park of a local shopping precinct.

"Seriously Arizona?" Callie whined, "you dragged me out of bed when I've been up half the night so we can go shopping?"

"So you'd rather be sleeping on your day off than spend time with me. Is that what you are saying Calliope?" Arizona asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No" Callie huffed as she got out of the car. "This surprise better be freaking amazing," she muttered to herself as she allowed Arizona to frog march her into her favourite furniture store.

"So I want you to pick something that you like" Arizona said, "anything you like." She looked around the store and wrinkled her nose, "except for that maybe" she added, pointing a particularly garish looking sofa set. "Or that" she said, now pointing at a water bed, "anything else is yours to choose from."

"You want to buy me a piece of furniture?" Arizona nodded.

"Why?" Callie asked.

"I'm not doing this right at all." Arizona said, wringing her hands nervously.

Callie looked even more confused, her temper running closer to the surface than usual in her sleep deprived state. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes before taking a deep breath. "What are you not doing right Arizona?"

"Is the bed still your favourite thing here?" Arizona asked, changing tact. She indicated to the huge oak sleigh bed that Callie had cooed over on their last visit to the store several months back.

"It's gorgeous." Callie said wistfully as she looked at the bed. "But I would never get it in my apartment building never mind my actual bedroom. Besides Arizona, it's a far too expensive gift."

"Hello? I'm a millionaire now remember?"

"Not until you deposit the cheque you're not" Callie quipped back.

"The point is" Arizona continued, not taking the bait, "that I can afford it. And it would fit in the place I was thinking of."

Callie just stared at her, waiting. Callie opened her mouth to speak but Arizona wasn't quite finished it would seem. "I'll realised something over these past few weeks. I can give a really good romantic speech..."

Callie really wanted to ask at this point who she had been giving romantic speeches to over the past few weeks but thought it best to listen first and react later.

"... but romantic gestures I'm just no good at. _Believe Me. _I've tried to think of something but my brain just won't work. You're the one that's good at all that stuff. You bring me care packages at work, you surprise me with trips away to see basketball games..."

"Arizona" Callie interrupted, "I've brought you one care package and taken you to one basketball game. If we're here because you want to balance the romantic gesture scale, I promise you, it's not necessary. You do all kinds of sweet stuff for me."

"That's not what this is about" Arizona said dismissively. "I've wanted to speak to you about something for so long but I couldn't think of the perfect way to do it. So I'm going with the sage advice of my fourth grade teacher when I auditioned for the lead role of the school musical."

Callie winced internally at the visuals that caused in her brain, she had heard Arizona sing in the shower one time too many. _So bad. _She kept her expression neutral however, "what advice would that be?"

"Stick with what you are good at."

Callie snorted but hastily rearranged her features back to neutral as she said, "and in this case, that would be...?"

"Speeches and shopping." Arizona confirmed with a firm nod and Callie had to push down the giggle that threatened to bubble up. From the conversations she had had with Colonel Robbins, she got the feeling that this side of Arizona's personality came from him. Arizona seemed to be approaching it like some sort of battle strategy.

"So here it goes," Arizona said. "Calliope, I love you. You dance around the kitchen in your underwear. You leave the porch light on if I'm not going to be home until after dark. You have a huge heart and that fact that you have given it to me makes me feel like the luckiest woman in the world. There are so many things that I love about you but its not enough, I want more. I want you to move in with me. I want this bed to be our bed. To go in our place. If that's what you want of course." Arizona looked at Callie and then added unnecessarily, "I'm finished now."

"That's it?" Callie asked with a delighted laugh.

"What?" Arizona responded.

"You want me to move in. To a place I basically already live?"

"Uh huh."

Callie grin became even more pronounced. "Yes Arizona. I would love for your house to become our house and for this bed to become our bed." She pulled the smaller woman in for a hug and a chaste kiss. "The kitchen is still mine though right? Because bad things happen when you go in that kitchen." she added seriously.

"Yes" Arizona responded with a roll of the eyes.

"We're moving in together," Callie said with an excited squeal.

"We're moving in together" Arizona confirmed, reaching up for a much better kiss than the one Callie had sneaked just a few moments earlier. Amelia and Teddy were right. It was anti-climactic but Arizona didn't care in the slightest because Callie had said yes.

* * *

**Thoughts?**


End file.
